Environment variables

Environment variables are stored as a Kubernetes Secret of the app. Values are written once and never shown again: the CLI, the dashboard and the API list only the names.

vibe env shop                                  # list names
vibe env shop STRIPE_KEY=sk_live_… MODE=prod   # set
vibe env shop --unset OLD_FLAG                 # remove
vibe env shop NEW=1 --unset OLD                # both at once

Setting or removing variables restarts the app if it is running. You can also set them with the first deploy:

vibe deploy --env STRIPE_KEY=sk_live_… --env MODE=prod

For an agent the tool is set_env, or env in deploy_app.

Set by VibeDeploy

Variable	When	Value
PORT	always	the port to listen on, 8080 unless you set one
DATA_DIR	app has a volume	the volume’s mount path, /data by default
DATABASE_URL	a PostgreSQL database is linked	postgres://app:…@host:5432/db?sslmode=disable
REDIS_URL	a Redis database is linked	redis://default:…@host:6379

Keep secrets out of the upload

.env* files are never uploaded, so a secret in .env does not reach the app. Set it with vibe env instead. The audit log records which names changed, never the values.

Build time vs. run time

Variables are available to the running app. A static site built from package.json (Vite, React, Astro) is built once without them, so values it needs in the browser must be in the code or in a committed file. Only put public values there, such as an API’s public URL or a publishable key.