environment variables

set variables once, restart, and they are in every login shell. no config files to copy around.

two scopes

variables live at one of two levels:

Scope	How to set	Applies to
account-wide	`env set NAME VALUE`	every machine you own
per-machine	`env set NAME VALUE --machine=<name>`	that machine only

same name in both scopes: the machine value wins. put shared defaults at the account level; override per machine where needed. the flag is --machine=<name> (short form -m=<name>) and can appear anywhere in the command.

setting a variable

<SCREENSHOT: account env editor (press e in the dashboard) with a few variables listed>

ssh

$ ssh dashboard@ironwire.sh env set DATABASE_URL postgres://db.example/app
set DATABASE_URL — restart the machine to apply

or scoped to a single machine:

$ ssh dashboard@ironwire.sh env set LOG_LEVEL debug --machine=api
set LOG_LEVEL — restart the machine to apply

cli

$ ironwire env set DATABASE_URL postgres://db.example/app
set DATABASE_URL — restart the machine to apply
$ ironwire env set LOG_LEVEL debug --machine=api
set LOG_LEVEL — restart the machine to apply

dashboard

press e for the account-wide env vars screen and add the variable there. for a per-machine variable, select the machine, press Space for the actions popup, and choose env vars.

env set replaces any existing value for that name; setting it again overwrites. everything after the name is joined with spaces to form the value.

names must start with a letter or underscore and contain only letters, digits, and underscores. invalid names are rejected with invalid variable name "<n>" (use letters, digits, and underscore; must not start with a digit). names starting with IRONWIRE_ are refused: names starting with IRONWIRE_ are reserved by the control plane.

when changes take effect

values reach a machine at boot: they are stored encrypted at rest on the platform and injected into the machine when it starts. after a set or rm, restart the machine to apply:

$ ssh dashboard@ironwire.sh restart api
restarted api

note variables are available in login shells. a service you start from a login shell (or a script that sources the login environment) sees them; changes never apply to an already-running machine until it restarts.

listing variables

ssh

$ ssh dashboard@ironwire.sh env
DATABASE_URL=postgres://db.example/app

cli

$ ironwire env
DATABASE_URL=postgres://db.example/app

dashboard

press e to see the account-wide variables; a machine's own variables are under Space → env vars.

env with no subcommand lists the account-wide scope. add --machine=<name> to list a machine's own variables. an empty scope prints no variables.

removing a variable

ssh

$ ssh dashboard@ironwire.sh env rm LOG_LEVEL --machine=api
removed LOG_LEVEL — restart the machine to apply

cli

$ ironwire env rm LOG_LEVEL --machine=api
removed LOG_LEVEL — restart the machine to apply

dashboard

open the env vars screen (e for account-wide, Space → env vars for a machine) and remove the variable there.

removing a name that does not exist in that scope fails with no variable named "<n>".

injected IRONWIRE_* variables

every machine also receives platform-injected variables at boot. they are applied after yours, so they cannot be shadowed; that is why the IRONWIRE_ prefix is reserved. two are useful in your own programs:

Variable	Meaning
`IRONWIRE_MACHINE_NAME`	this machine's name
`IRONWIRE_MACHINE_IP`	this machine's IP address

a few more IRONWIRE_* variables exist as plumbing for the in-machine ironwire CLI (where the platform is, how to authenticate to it). the CLI consumes them automatically and your programs never need to.