Environment Commands

The nself env command manages the active environment for a project. nSelf supports multiple named environments (e.g. local, staging,prod) via the .env.dev → .env.staging/.env.prod → .env.secrets → .env.computed cascade.

Source of truth: SPORT F02-COMMAND-INVENTORY.md.

Synopsis

nself env <subcommand> [args]

Subcommands

nself env use

Switch the active environment. After switching, run nself build to regenerate configs.

nself env use local
nself env use staging
nself env use prod

nself env list

List all available environments. The active environment is marked.

nself env list

# Example output:
# ENVIRONMENTS
# * local (active)
#   staging
#   prod

nself env show

Show the current environment configuration. Secret values are masked.

nself env show

# Displays all .env keys for the active environment
# Secret values appear as [REDACTED]

nself env diff

Compare two environments side by side. Useful before deploying to catch config drift.

nself env diff local staging
nself env diff staging prod

# Example output:
# KEY                   local           staging
# DEBUG                 true            false
# BASE_DOMAIN           local.nself.org staging.example.com
# LOG_LEVEL             debug           info

nself env copy

Copy an environment configuration to a new name. Useful for creating a new environment from an existing one.

nself env copy staging qa         # Create 'qa' from 'staging'

Environment cascade

nSelf uses a layered environment cascade. Files applied in order (later overrides earlier):

.env.dev          # Base team defaults (committed)
  ↓
.env.staging      # Staging shared config (committed)
.env.prod         # Production shared config (committed)
  ↓
.env.secrets      # Real secrets — NOT committed, chmod 600
  ↓
.env.computed     # Generated by nself build — do not hand-edit

Typical workflow

# Check what's active
nself env list

# Compare before deploying
nself env diff local staging

# Switch to staging
nself env use staging
nself build
nself start

See also

• Config Commands — nself config (show, get, set, list)
• Build Command — regenerate configs after env switch
• Configuration Reference — full .env variable list