Variables and secrets

Variables configure the running application. They are set per deployment with freepod var and are passed to the container as environment variables. A deployment must exist before variables can be set; run freepod deploy first.

Setting variables

freepod var set LOG_LEVEL=debug FEATURE_X=on   # one release for both
freepod var set API_TOKEN --secret             # prompts for the value without echo
freepod var set -f production.env              # KEY=VALUE lines from a file

freepod var set saves the variables and starts a release so they take effect. Several variables in one command produce one release.

A bare KEY prompts for the value, which keeps it out of shell history. Prefer that, or -f, for credentials.

Secrets

--secret makes a variable write-only. Its value is passed to the container but is never returned: freepod var list shows the key without a value, and freepod var get fails. To change a secret, set it again.

All variable values, secret or not, are encrypted at rest.

Reading variables

freepod var list           # all keys and non-secret values
freepod var list --json    # machine-readable
freepod var get LOG_LEVEL  # one value

freepod var list --json output can be passed back to freepod var set -f -. Secrets in it have no value and are left unchanged.

Removing variables

freepod var rm LOG_LEVEL FEATURE_X

Removing a variable that is not set succeeds and changes nothing.

Staging changes

--stage saves a change without starting a release:

freepod var set --stage A=1 B=2
freepod var rm --stage C
freepod deploy --no-build      # applies the staged changes in one release

The next release of any kind applies staged changes. --stage also works while a release is in progress.

Rules and limits

	Limit
Name	Letters, digits and _, not starting with a digit, up to 64 characters
Value	8 KiB
Variables per deployment	256
All values together	128 KiB

These names are reserved and cannot be set: PORT, BUCKET_NAME, and names starting with AWS_, S3_, CAELUS_ or RAILPACK_. DATABASE_URL and the PG* variables are set by the platform and take precedence over a variable of the same name. See Runtime contract: Environment.

Build time

Variables are not available during the build. See Builds: Build-time variables.