evnx

A CLI tool for managing .env files — validation, secret scanning, format conversion, and migration to cloud secret managers. It also syncs them end-to-end encrypted, so the server stores only ciphertext it cannot read — with a limit worth knowing before you rely on it, in Cloud sync.

Website | Getting Started | Changelog

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Why evnx?

Accidentally committing secrets to version control is one of the most common and costly developer mistakes. evnx is a local-first tool that catches misconfigurations, detects credential leaks, and converts environment files to the format each deployment target expects — before anything reaches CI or production.

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Testing & playground

→ urwithajit9/evnx-test — try evnx in your browser via GitHub Actions, no installation required.

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Installation

Linux / macOS

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/urwithajit9/evnx/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Homebrew (macOS and Linux)

brew install urwithajit9/evnx/evnx

npm

npm install -g @evnx/cli

pipx (recommended for Python environments)

pipx install evnx

pipx installs CLI tools into isolated environments and wires them to your system PATH automatically. It is the correct tool for installing Python- distributed CLI binaries like evnx.

Don't have pipx?

macOS

brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath

Ubuntu / Debian (Python 3.11+)

sudo apt install pipx
pipx ensurepath

On older Ubuntu (20.04 and below) where pipx is not in apt:

pip install --user pipx
python -m pipx ensurepath

Note: pip install evnx will fail on Ubuntu 22.04+ with an "externally managed environment" error (PEP 668). This is intentional — Ubuntu protects the system Python. Use pipx instead.

Windows

python -m pip install --user pipx
python -m pipx ensurepath

After running ensurepath, close and reopen your terminal (a full logout/login may be required for PATH changes to take effect), then:

pipx install evnx

After installing pipx on any platform, restart your terminal and run:

pipx install evnx
evnx --version

Cargo

cargo install evnx
# with all optional features
cargo install evnx --all-features

Windows

Scoop (user-local, no admin required)

scoop bucket add evnx https://github.com/urwithajit9/scoop-evnx
scoop install evnx

Winget (system-wide)

winget install urwithajit9.evnx

Cargo (Windows)

Install Rust first, then:

cargo install evnx
evnx --version

Verify

evnx --version
evnx commands      # the features this build has, and every command

--version is the same whether or not a feature is compiled in; evnx commands says built with: net, migrate, backup, cloud for a full build.

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Commands

Commands exit 0 when they ran and found nothing, 1 when they ran and the answer is no (secrets found, drift, a failed upload), and 2 when they could not run — "No verdict: evnx did not finish". backup and restore are the exception: they keep the specific codes listed in their section below (restore exits 3 when the backup file is missing) and never exit 1. -q prints nothing on success; findings and errors still print. ⚠️ Not yet in the cloud commands: org, vault, cloud push/pull/ export/audit and auth's token, session and device commands still print their progress lines under -q (auth status, cloud status and cloud unlink are quiet).

evnx init

Interactive project setup. Creates .env and .env.example files for your project through a guided TUI.

evnx init

Running evnx init launches an interactive menu with three modes:

How do you want to start?
  Blank      — create empty .env files
  Blueprint  — use a pre-configured stack (Python, Node.js, Rust, Go, PHP, and more)
  Architect  — build a custom stack by selecting services interactively

No flags are required: the interactive flow handles stack and service selection. For scripts and CI, every choice also has a flag:

Flag	Does
--yes, -y	no prompts; blank files unless --blueprint or --with is given
--blueprint <id>	a named stack (an unknown id lists the ten valid ones)
--with <a,b,c>	name the components directly
--list-components	print every name --with accepts
--detect	accept what package.json, compose files and other manifests declare
--from-source	add the variables the code reads; never removes
--force	replace an existing .env.example (.env is never overwritten); not with --from-source
--path <dir>, -p	write somewhere other than .

Short names work too (postgres, pg, mongo, next, k8s and others; see --list-components), and browser frameworks get prefixed copies of public values (VITE_SUPABASE_URL next to SUPABASE_URL). Full reference: docs.evnx.dev/cli/commands/init.

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evnx add

Add the variables a service, framework or whole stack needs to .env.example and .env, without retyping them. Same catalogue and section headings as init. Names already there are skipped, and a value you have set is never replaced. Each subcommand shows a preview and asks first; --yes skips the question (scripts and CI need it).

evnx add service postgresql       # any catalogue id: a service, an infra target or a framework (`add infra` is an alias)
evnx add framework nextjs         # --language is optional
evnx add blueprint t3_modern      # a whole stack
evnx add custom API_URL=https://api.example.com DEBUG=false --yes   # your own: values go to .env only, .env.example gets placeholders
evnx add custom                   # ... or one prompt at a time
evnx add --list                   # every id
evnx add service redis --dry-run  # what would be written; --json for scripts

--path names the folder that holds .env.example and .env. When the project keeps a contract, the new names are recorded in the nearest .evnx.toml at or above that folder, which may be the repository root rather than the folder itself.

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evnx spec

Declares what each variable is — something .env.example cannot express. Written into [vars] in the project's .evnx.toml, and read by validate, scan and sync; evnx add records the variables it introduces there too, and never rewrites an entry.

evnx spec init                            # infer the contract from .env.example and .env
evnx spec init --env-name staging         # sample values from .env.staging
evnx spec init --with django,postgresql   # or start from the component catalogue
evnx spec init --stdout                   # print it instead (only TOML goes to stdout)
evnx spec init --merge                    # later: add only the names [vars] does not declare yet

Every field is a guess from your files — read it before you commit it. A format is written only when the sample value passes it, so the first validate afterwards passes; any it left out are named. Names only in .env follow the template's, marked # only in .env with required = false. --env, --env-name, --example and [defaults] work as they do for validate; a file named by a flag must exist.

It writes the project's one .evnx.toml — the one in force at or above this folder, else a new one at the git root — and refuses a second [vars] unless --merge, which keeps every existing entry as written. Nothing is ever written that TOML would refuse to read. Exit 0 when the contract was written or printed, 2 when nothing was written.

[vars.PORT]
format      = "port"              # url, int, port, bool, email; anything else is a regex
description = "HTTP listen port"

[vars.TENANT_A]
secret       = true               # scan reports it; no heuristic could
environments = ["production"]     # required in production only — not in a plain .env either

One [vars.NAME] table per variable is the documented form. The inline PORT = { format = "port" } form under [vars] is read too, but spec init --merge and evnx add cannot extend it. A key evnx does not know (requird = false) is a warning on every command and an error in validate. bool accepts true yes on 1 y and false no off 0 n, in any case; a regex is anchored only if you anchor it.

secret = true reports a credential whose name gives nothing away. secret = false retracts a guess made from a variable's name — but never a match on its value, so a variable holding sk_live_… is still reported however it is declared.

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evnx validate

Validates your .env file for common misconfigurations before deployment.

evnx validate                            # pretty output; exit 1 on errors
evnx validate --strict                   # also report variables nothing declares
evnx validate --fail-on warning          # warnings exit 1 too
evnx validate --fix --dry-run            # what --fix would change; writes nothing
evnx validate --format json              # machine-readable output
evnx validate --format github-actions    # inline GitHub annotations

Detects: missing required variables, placeholder values (YOUR_KEY_HERE, CHANGE_ME), the boolean string trap (DEBUG="False" is truthy in most runtimes), weak secret keys, duplicate keys, localhost in a project with Docker files, an env file .gitignore does not cover (a warning) or git already tracks (an error), and, with --validate-formats, malformed URLs, ports and emails. Warnings alone exit 0 unless --fail-on warning.

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evnx scan

Scans files for accidentally committed credentials using pattern matching and entropy analysis.

evnx scan                              # scan current directory, recursively
evnx scan src/ config/                 # specific paths (positional, repeatable)
evnx scan --severity high              # only what evnx is confident about
evnx scan --pattern 'ACME-[A-Z0-9]{32}'  # your own secret format
evnx scan --format sarif               # SARIF for the GitHub Security tab
evnx scan --exit-zero                  # warn but do not fail CI
evnx scan --extensions env,yml,json    # opt-in: read only these files in folders (the run says so)

A folder scan reads every file. Binary files and files over 1024 KiB are skipped, and the scan says how many (-v lists them). A file you name is always read.

Detects: AWS Access Keys, Stripe keys (live and test), GitHub tokens, OpenAI and Anthropic API keys, RSA/EC/OpenSSH private keys, high-entropy strings, and generic API key patterns — plus any format you declare with --pattern or [[scan.patterns]].

Exit codes are 0 clean, 1 secrets found, 2 the scan could not be completed. 2 is not a louder 1: "I found nothing" and "I could not look" are different answers. --exit-zero suppresses 1 only.

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evnx diff

Compares two env files. Against the template (.env.example) it compares key names only — which keys .env lacks and which ones the template does not declare — because every filled-in value differs from its placeholder. Between two environments (--against) it compares values too.

evnx diff                     # keys missing from .env, or not in .env.example
evnx diff --fail-on missing   # exit 1 only when .env lacks a key the template has
evnx diff --env-name production --against staging   # two environments: keys and values
evnx diff --values            # compare values against the template too
evnx diff --show-values       # print values (secrets stay masked, e.g. postgres://admin:***@db)
evnx diff --reverse           # swap comparison direction
evnx diff --ignore-keys BUILD_ID   # leave keys out (exact case; adds to [diff] ignore_keys)
evnx diff --format json       # JSON output (schema_version 1)
evnx diff --format patch --show-values   # values are <withheld> without --show-values

Exit codes: 0 nothing --fail-on counts (default: missing, extra, different), 1 differences found, 2 could not run. ⚠️ --format patch --show-values and --interactive --show-values print real secrets; without --show-values they print <withheld>. --interactive writes nothing yet.

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evnx convert

Converts your .env file to the format one of 14 deployment targets expects. --help lists them; k8s, tf, yml, gh-actions and compose are aliases.

evnx convert --to json
evnx convert --to yaml
evnx convert --to shell
evnx convert --to docker-compose
evnx convert --to kubernetes --name myapp-env [--namespace prod]
evnx convert --to terraform
evnx convert --to github-actions        # text to paste into the GitHub web form
evnx convert --to aws-secrets           # JSON for create-secret --secret-string
evnx convert --to gcp-secrets --project my-gcp-project
evnx convert --to azure-keyvault --vault-name my-vault
evnx convert --to heroku --heroku-app my-app
evnx convert --to vercel                # experimental
evnx convert --to railway               # experimental
evnx convert --to doppler               # experimental

The formats that write a place into their output need it named: --project, --vault-name, --heroku-app, --name. There is no placeholder to edit by hand. The gcp-secrets script creates each secret, or adds a new version when it already exists. doppler, vercel and railway are experimental: their shapes have not been checked against those services' importers, and evnx says so on stderr. For Doppler, doppler secrets upload documents the flat JSON that --to json prints.

Choose and rename variables:

# Only the database settings, for a per-service Kubernetes Secret
evnx convert --to kubernetes --name db-env --include "DB_*,DATABASE_URL" -o db-secret.yaml

# Namespace every name for a shared platform
evnx convert --to json --prefix "MYAPP_" --transform uppercase

--include and --exclude take globs (* for any run, ? for one character), matched case-sensitively; repeat the flag or separate patterns with commas, and exclude wins. A filter that leaves nothing, or an empty .env, is an error (exit 2) unless --allow-empty. So is a pair of names that become one name in the output — Api and API under --transform uppercase, or A_B and a_b for gcp-secrets, terraform, Azure Key Vault or GitHub — unless --allow-collisions keeps the last value.

--output creates the file readable by you only (0600) and refuses to replace an existing one unless --force is given. It never writes over the .env it reads. In a git repository it checks .gitignore for the file, as evnx template does: it asks with a terminal, warns without one, and --gitignore / --no-gitignore decide without asking.

Pipe directly to AWS Secrets Manager:

evnx convert --to aws-secrets | \
  aws secretsmanager create-secret \
    --name prod/myapp/config \
    --secret-string file:///dev/stdin

stdout carries the JSON and nothing else (notices go to stderr), so the secret goes straight down the pipe. file:///dev/stdin works on Linux and macOS, not on Windows. evnx does not run aws itself.

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evnx sync

Keeps .env and .env.example aligned by variable name. It only ever adds: it never removes a variable or changes a value (comparing values between two environments is evnx diff).

# Forward (the default): add .env's new names to .env.example, as placeholder values
evnx sync

# Reverse: add the template's names to .env — its values, placeholders where it has none
evnx sync --direction reverse

# Preview: write nothing, ask nothing, exit 0
evnx sync --dry-run

# Your own check, both ways: names the template lacks, and names only the template has
evnx sync --check

# CI and pre-commit: one way — exit 1 only when .env has a name the template lacks.
# With no .env, the template is checked against the required [vars] in .evnx.toml.
evnx sync --check --direction forward

Flag	What it does
--direction forward|reverse	Which file to fill (default forward). With --check, naming one makes the check one-way
-n, --dry-run	Preview; writes nothing, never prompts, exits 0
--check	Exit 0 in sync, 1 out of sync (the message names the command that fixes each side), 2 no verdict. Implies --dry-run
--format json	With --check: missing, plus template_only when no --direction is given
-f, --force	Skip the prompts and add placeholder values. With no terminal, or CI set, sync does this anyway and says so
--env, --env-name, --example	The pair to compare (default .env and .env.example)
--template-config FILE	JSON placeholder rules: patterns, default, allow_actual (real values for configuration such as LOG_LEVEL; a credential is refused). An unknown key is an error
--naming-policy warn|error|ignore	Names that are not UPPER_SNAKE_CASE; error stops with exit 2
--skip-without-env	For a pre-commit hook: with no .env and no spec, skip (exit 0) and say so
--placeholder	Deprecated; does what --force does

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evnx migrate (requires --features migrate)

Moves a .env into a secret manager. For eight destinations evnx prints the commands for you to read and run, and contacts nothing; only github-actions uploads, over the GitHub API.

Destination	What evnx prints or does	Needs
aws-secrets-manager	create-secret and update-secret, all keys as one JSON secret	--secret-name
gcp-secret-manager	a script that creates each secret or adds a version	--project
azure-keyvault	az keyvault secret set per key (_ becomes -)	--vault-name
heroku	one heroku config:set (one restart)	--heroku-app
vercel	vercel env add … --force per key, value on stdin	--vercel-project or a linked directory
doppler, infisical	secrets set per key	--project, optional config / env
railway	one railway variable set	--railway-project with --railway-environment, or a linked directory
github-actions	uploads each secret, encrypted for the repository	--repo, GITHUB_TOKEN

# Print the commands, read them, run them
evnx migrate --to aws-secrets-manager --secret-name prod/myapp/config

# Only the commands on stdout: a script to review, then run
evnx migrate --to gcp-secret-manager --project my-gcp-project --print-only > upload.sh

# Another environment: reads .env.production ([defaults] env_name works too)
evnx migrate --env-name production --to heroku --heroku-app my-app

# From the process environment: --include is required, and evnx lists what it sends
evnx migrate --from environment --include 'APP_*,DATABASE_URL' --to heroku --heroku-app my-app

# Preview what would happen: nothing printed to run, nothing uploaded
evnx migrate --to doppler --project myapp --dry-run

# GitHub Actions from CI. The token comes from GITHUB_TOKEN; --github-token works
# but puts it in shell history. --yes skips the question; existing secrets still
# need --overwrite or --skip-existing. Exit 1 if any upload failed.
evnx migrate --to github-actions --repo owner/repo --yes --skip-existing

--include / --exclude take comma-separated globs; --strip-prefix and --add-prefix rename. Two names that end up as one — by renaming, or because Azure Key Vault and GitHub ignore case — are refused (exit 2) unless --allow-collisions keeps the last value. --skip-existing and --overwrite only apply to github-actions; the destinations evnx prints commands for are refused them, since evnx cannot see what is already there. Exit codes: 0 done, 1 some GitHub uploads failed, 2 could not run.

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evnx doctor

Runs a health check on your environment configuration setup.

evnx doctor                          # check current directory
evnx doctor --path /path/to/project

Checks: .env exists and has secure permissions, .env is in .gitignore, .env.example is tracked by Git, and project structure detection.

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evnx template

Renders a config file from a template, filling in values from .env.

evnx template \
  --input config.template.yml \
  --output config.yml \
  --env .env

The output usually holds real values, so a new file is created readable by you only (0600; --mode 0640 to choose another). An existing output is replaced and keeps its mode. --output - prints to stdout instead of writing a file. The template and the env file are never overwritten.

Option	What it does
--input FILE, --output FILE	the template, and where to write (- for stdout)
--env FILE, --env-name NAME	the values: .env by default, .env.NAME with --env-name
--strict	refuse to write when a placeholder has no value (the default warns, writes it through and exits 0)
--dry-run	render and say what would be written; writes nothing, prints no value, leaves .gitignore alone
--mkdir	create the output's missing directories (0700)
--mode MODE	the output's file mode, new or existing
--gitignore / --no-gitignore	add the output to .gitignore without asking / skip the check. Neither: ask in a terminal, warn in CI

References are {{VAR}}, ${VAR} and $VAR. Filters, one per placeholder:

database:
  host: {{DB_HOST}}
  port: {{DB_PORT|int}}
  ssl:  {{DB_SSL|bool}}
  name: {{DB_NAME|upper}}

Filter	Result
upper, lower	the value in upper or lower case
title	Title Case: hello wORLD → Hello World
capitalize	first character only: hello wORLD → Hello wORLD
bool	true/yes/on/1/y → true, false/no/off/0/n → false (any case); anything else is an error
int	a whole number; anything else is an error
json	a quoted, escaped JSON string
default:VALUE	VALUE when the variable is empty or not defined

An unknown filter, or two chained ({{X|upper|json}}), is an error naming its line, and nothing is written. Exit codes: 0 rendered, 2 nothing written.

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evnx backup / evnx restore (requires --features backup)

backup encrypts a .env into one file (AES-256-GCM, key from Argon2id over a passphrase you choose, mode 0600); restore decrypts it. No account, no network.

evnx backup                                  # .env → .env.backup, asks for a passphrase twice
evnx backup --env-name production --verify   # .env.production → .env.production.backup, then re-read it
evnx restore .env.backup --inspect           # variable names only, never values
evnx restore .env.backup --dry-run           # decrypt and check, write nothing
evnx restore .env.backup --output .env       # asks before replacing an existing .env

The passphrase comes from --key-file (also spelled --password-file), then EVNX_PASSWORD, then a prompt. A new backup needs at least 8 characters from any of them; restore takes any length, so an older backup made with a shorter one still opens. A key file is trimmed of surrounding whitespace, or Base64-encoded when it is binary. When both a key file and EVNX_PASSWORD are set, the file wins and a warning says so.

Rotation: each backup shifts the previous ones to .1, .2 … up to --keep (default 3, or [backup] keep in .evnx.toml); the one at the last place is replaced, and older files are left alone. --keep 0 overwrites. The output may not be the source file, or a directory.

Replacing a file: restore never replaces an existing output silently. With a terminal it asks; in a script pass --yes (alias --force). Either way the replaced file is kept as <output>.bak. An output that already holds exactly the backup's content is left alone. Content that is not a .env evnx can read goes to <output>.restored, exit 5. In a git repository the restored file gets the same .gitignore check as template (--gitignore, --no-gitignore).

In CI:

EVNX_PASSWORD="$BACKUP_PASSPHRASE" evnx backup --output "backups/env-$(date +%F).backup" --keep 0 --verify
evnx restore backups/env-2026-10-20.backup --key-file /run/secrets/backup-key --yes

Exit	backup	restore
0	written (and verified)	restored, inspected, checked, or already up to date
2	could not run: source, key file or passphrase, output path, no terminal	could not run, or could not decrypt (wrong password, truncated, a newer format)
3	passphrase confirmation did not match	backup file not found
4	encryption failed	cancelled at the overwrite question
5	could not write the backup	content written to <output>.restored
6	--verify failed	—

A backup is not a vault. They solve different problems and do not read each other's files:

	backup / restore	cloud push / cloud pull
Where the ciphertext lives	a file you keep	the evnx server, as versions
Secret	a passphrase or key file you choose	your account's master password
History	--keep N numbered files	server versions: --version N, history, diff
Non-interactive	--key-file, EVNX_PASSWORD	--password-stdin
Replacing a file	--yes (alias --force), keeps .bak	--force
Works with no account or network	yes	no
Everything back at once	the file is the backup	cloud export

For a vault, use evnx cloud pull; restore cloud://… is not supported.

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evnx commands (alias surface)

Which build you have: the version, the features it was compiled with, and every command, grouped. The answer to "why is evnx vault not found?". --json emits the whole command tree (schema 1) for tooling.

evnx commands
evnx commands --json | jq -e '.features | index("cloud")'   # exit 1 without cloud

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evnx completions

Prints a completion script for bash, zsh, fish, powershell or elvish. evnx completions --help shows where each shell reads it.

evnx completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/evnx
evnx completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/evnx.fish

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evnx update

How to upgrade, for the channel that installed this binary (cargo, Homebrew, Scoop, winget, npm, pip or the install script). It contacts nothing unless you pass --check, and never replaces its own binary.

evnx update                    # the upgrade command for this install
evnx update --check            # exit 1 when a newer release exists
evnx update --check --json     # the same answer for CI

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Working with multiple environments

--env-name resolves .env.<name> across validate, scan, diff, sync, convert, migrate, backup and template:

evnx validate --env-name production            # operates on .env.production
evnx diff --env-name production --against staging

A name whose file does not exist is an error listing the ones that do — it never quietly falls back to .env. Set a project default with [defaults] env_name in .evnx.toml.

Between two real environments diff compares values too; against the template it compares key names only, because every filled-in value differs from its placeholder.

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Cloud sync (requires --features cloud)

Push your .env to the cloud and pull it on any machine or in any pipeline. Encryption and decryption happen on your machine; the server stores ciphertext and holds no key that can open it.

What that guarantees: what is already stored stays closed. A database dump, a court order against stored data, a passive observer — none of them yield plaintext, because the key never leaves your machine.

⛔ What it does not guarantee: safety from a server that has been taken over. The client decides how to unwrap a vault key from fields the server sends, so an attacker with database write access can present a key they chose and read what you push next — including for a vault you never shared. Fixing it needs signed wraps and locally pinned identities, which are not built.

⚠️ Cloud sync is therefore beta. Do not put secrets there that you could not rotate. The rest of evnx — validate, scan, diff, sync, convert, and the commands migrate prints — runs entirely offline and is not affected. (migrate --to github-actions is the exception: it calls the GitHub API, and talks to nothing else.)

ⓘ This README previously said "not after a breach". That was wrong, and the correction is tracked in SECURITY.md.

evnx auth register                       # create an account
evnx auth login                          # sign in on this machine
evnx vault create app --env production   # a vault holds one .env, versioned
evnx cloud link app/production           # bind this directory to it
evnx cloud push                          # encrypt locally, upload ciphertext
evnx cloud pull                          # download, decrypt, write .env

Installing with cloud support

Most prebuilt binaries already include the cloud commands. npm, Homebrew, Scoop, winget and the GitHub Release are all built with --all-features, so if you installed evnx any of those ways, evnx cloud --help already works.

ⓘ PyPI carries the cloud commands from 0.10.0 onward. Every wheel from 0.4.0 up to and including 0.9.0 was built with --features full, and cloud is deliberately not in full — so pip install evnx gave a binary with no auth, vault, cloud or org at all, for five releases.

Fixed in 0.10.0 and verified by installing the published wheel and running it rather than by reading the workflow: evnx commands reports built with: net, migrate, backup, cloud.

⚠️ If you are on 0.9.0 or earlier, pip install --upgrade evnx. The version string was identical whether or not the feature was compiled in, which is exactly why this went unnoticed for five releases.

cargo install is the other exception, by design, because it compiles from source with default = []. Build every feature, as the prebuilt binaries are (this is also the command evnx update prints for a cargo install):

cargo install evnx --all-features

⚠️ If you already installed evnx another way, check which binary you are running. A package-manager install often sits earlier in PATH than ~/.cargo/bin, so cargo install appears to succeed while the old binary still answers — and evnx vault list reports "unrecognized subcommand".

which -a evnx     # if ~/.cargo/bin/evnx is not first, that is why

What the server can and cannot see

Sent to the server	Never sent
Ciphertext — AES-256-GCM, encrypted before upload	Your .env values
Your key names (DATABASE_URL, STRIPE_KEY) so a listing can show what a vault holds	Your master password
An SRP-6a verifier, which proves knowledge of the password without revealing it	Your master key, or any vault key in usable form

Key names travelling in the clear is a deliberate trade for a usable listing. If a name is itself sensitive, do not make it a name.

There is no password reset. The server holds only ciphertext, so nobody — including us — can recover an account whose master password is lost. Enable a second factor and keep your recovery codes:

evnx auth totp enable

Versioning and rollback

Every push is a new version. Nothing is overwritten.

evnx cloud history                  # what changed, when, and who pushed it
evnx cloud pull --version 3         # restore an earlier version
evnx cloud diff                     # what differs between two versions
evnx cloud export --out ./backup    # every version to disk, decrypted

⚠️ cloud diff compares key names, not values. The server holds ciphertext and a list of names, so it can tell you a variable appeared, disappeared or changed — never what it changed to. It says "same keys, different contents" rather than claiming nothing changed.

If someone else pushed since you last pulled, your push is refused with a conflict rather than silently overwriting them. Pull, re-apply, push again — the version number is authenticated into the ciphertext, so the same bytes cannot simply be re-sent.

Running a command without writing a file

evnx cloud run --vault app/production -- ./deploy.sh
evnx cloud run --include 'NEXT_PUBLIC_*' -- npm run build

Decrypts in memory and hands the variables to the child process. Nothing on disk, nothing in shell history, and nothing in ps — values travel in the environment block, never the argument vector. The child's exit code comes back unchanged, so a pipeline can branch on it.

Who changed what, and being told when

evnx cloud audit --vault app/production   # who pushed, pulled, shared, revoked
evnx cloud watch --vault app/production   # notify when someone else pushes

⛔ cloud watch notifies and never pulls. Pulling automatically would overwrite local edits without being asked, and it would mean holding the vault key in memory for as long as the watch runs. It tells you; you decide.

--include / --exclude narrow what the child sees; a filter that matches nothing is an error rather than a silent run with zero secrets.

⚠️ This removes the plaintext file, not the master password. The vault key is wrapped under your master key, so decryption needs it wherever the command runs. In CI, feed it with --password-stdin.

Sharing with a team

evnx vault share app/production --with teammate@example.com --role developer
evnx vault members app/production
evnx vault role app/production --user teammate@example.com --role viewer
evnx vault revoke app/production --user teammate@example.com

The vault key is wrapped for the recipient with a hybrid X25519 + ML-KEM-768 scheme, so a share is not opened by a future quantum computer harvesting today's traffic. There is no X25519-only path; sharing with an account that has no ML-KEM key on file is refused rather than downgraded.

Revocation re-keys the vault, so a removed member cannot open versions pushed after they left.

⚠️ The recipient's public keys come from the server, and out-of-band fingerprint verification is not built — so a hostile server can substitute its own and read what you share.

⛔ This is not limited to sharing. Nothing local records which vaults you own, so the client cannot tell a genuine share from a fabricated one; the same substitution works on a vault you created and never shared. See SECURITY.md.

Organisations and plans

An organisation owns a plan and a set of seats. Whoever holds a seat gets that plan's limits — more vaults, more versions, more API tokens.

evnx org create "Acme Corp" --slug acme
evnx org invite colleague@example.com --role member
evnx org assign colleague@example.com      # their limits become the org's
evnx org billing                           # what the plan is, and until when

⛔ An organisation does not give anyone access to a vault. It is a plan and a directory, and that is the whole feature. The server cannot wrap a vault key — that is the guarantee, not a gap in it — so no membership, role or seat can produce access. Sharing is evnx vault share, by someone who holds the key.

A seat can be held in exactly one organisation at a time; directory membership is unconstrained, so a contractor at two companies is two entries and one seat.

Releasing a seat drops that person back to their own plan, which can leave them over the new limit. Nothing is deleted and nothing becomes unreadable — a vault over the limit stays readable and exportable, and the next push to it is what gets refused.

evnx org billing is read-only. Plans, seat counts and payment methods are changed at app.evnx.dev/billing, because a card form does not belong in a terminal.

⚠️ Organisation commands need a real sign-in — an evnx_tok_ API token is refused, because inviting people and assigning seats changes what the account is billed.

CI/CD

Mint a token scoped to one vault, read-only:

evnx auth token create ci --scope read --vault app/production --expires-in-days 90

Then in the pipeline:

export EVNX_TOKEN=evnx_tok_...
echo "$EVNX_PASSWORD" | evnx cloud pull --vault <VAULT_ID> --password-stdin

Two things to understand:

• The token authenticates; it does not decrypt. The master password is still required, and it is the more sensitive of the two. What the token buys is blast radius: scoped to one vault and read, it reaches that vault and nothing else.
• Use the vault id, not name/environment. A vault-scoped token is refused permission to list vaults — by design — so it cannot resolve a name. Get the id from evnx vault list --verbose.

Pipe the password rather than exporting it where you can: an environment variable is visible in process listings and tends to end up in logs.

Self-hosting

evnx cloud talks to https://api.evnx.dev by default. Point it anywhere:

evnx cloud status --server https://evnx.internal.example

or set EVNX_SERVER, or server = "..." in ~/.config/evnx/config.toml. The server is open source and ships a Docker stack. Plain http:// is refused for anything but a loopback address, because tokens travel in request headers.

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CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

name: Validate environment

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  validate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install evnx
        run: |
          curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/urwithajit9/evnx/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

      - name: Validate configuration
        run: evnx validate --strict --format github-actions

      - name: Scan for secrets
        run: evnx scan --format sarif > scan-results.sarif

      - name: Upload SARIF
        uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
        if: always()
        with:
          sarif_file: scan-results.sarif

GitLab CI

validate-env:
  stage: validate
  image: alpine:latest
  before_script:
    - apk add --no-cache curl bash
    - curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/urwithajit9/evnx/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
  script:
    - evnx validate --strict --format json
    - evnx scan --format sarif > scan.sarif
  artifacts:
    reports:
      sast: scan.sarif

pre-commit / prek Integration

Use evnx as automatic git hooks via pre-commit or prek — no manual evnx install needed. The binary is compiled and cached automatically on first run.

Add to .pre-commit-config.yaml:

default_install_hook_types: [pre-commit, pre-push]

repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/urwithajit9/evnx
    # ⚠️ Pin 0.10.0 or newer. Before it, these hooks ran `evnx scan` with no
    # arguments and `always_run: true`, so every commit scanned the whole working
    # tree — including the real, gitignored `.env` a developer necessarily has.
    # That found secrets, exited 1, and blocked the commit. Every commit.
    rev: v0.10.0
    hooks:
      - id: evnx-scan        # blocks commit if secrets found
      - id: evnx-validate    # blocks commit if .env misconfigured
      - id: evnx-diff        # blocks commit if .env lacks a key .env.example declares (skips with no .env)
      - id: evnx-sync        # blocks commit if .env.example lacks a variable from .env (skips with no .env)
      - id: evnx-scan-push   # strict scan on push

Then install:

pre-commit install   # or: prek install

That's it. On your next commit, hooks will auto-compile and run.

---

Configuration

Store defaults in .evnx.toml at the project root:

[defaults]
env_name = "production"        # which .env.<name> commands operate on
example  = ".env.template"     # the template path, if not .env.example

[scan]
severity            = "high"        # "high" | "medium" | "low"
exclude             = ["fixtures"]  # paths this project never scans
ignore_placeholders = true

# Your own secret formats, beyond the built-in ones. Repeat per rule.
[[scan.patterns]]
name  = "Acme API key"
regex = "ACME-[A-Z0-9]{32}"

[validate]
strict           = true
validate_formats = true
ignore           = ["boolean_trap"]
fail_on          = "error"           # "error" | "warning": the lowest severity that exits 1

[sync]
naming_policy = "warn"         # "warn" | "error" | "ignore"; any other value is an error
                               # placeholder rules are a JSON file: --template-config

[diff]
ignore_keys = ["BUILD_ID"]

[backup]
keep = 3                       # backups kept by `evnx backup` rotation; --keep wins

[cloud]
vault = "my-app/production"    # written by `evnx cloud link`

# What each variable *is* — read by validate, scan and sync. `evnx spec init` writes it.
[vars.PORT]
format      = "port"
description = "HTTP listen port"

[vars.STRIPE_KEY]
secret       = true
environments = ["production"]

A setting belongs here if it is true of the project and would otherwise be repeated on every invocation. It does not if it expresses what this invocation should do — which is why [scan] severity is configurable and --exit-zero is not.

Precedence is flag > config > default. Lists combine rather than replace, so --exclude dist scans with dist and the project's excludes. Settings that can weaken scanning are announced on every run. Unknown keys warn and never fail, so a file written for a later evnx keeps working on an earlier one — except under [vars.NAME], where validate counts one as an error: a typo there changes the contract.

Only .evnx.toml, with the leading dot, is read. A bare evnx.toml stops every command with the rename to make; beside a .evnx.toml it is a warning.

Full reference: https://docs.evnx.dev/cli/reference/configuration-file

⚠️ On v0.4.x and earlier this file did nothing. The loader existed and nothing called it, so a project with [validate] strict = true validated non-strictly and said nothing. Keys named in older copies of this README — env_file, auto_fix, exclude_patterns, [convert], [aliases] — were never read by anything and do not exist.

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Known Limitations

⚠️ Corrected 2026-09-27. This section said multiline and array values "will not parse correctly" and gave three examples. Two of the three parse fine, and multiline values have been supported all along — the parser accepts a quoted value that spans lines and convert round-trips the newlines intact. The wrong claim was repeated into several planning documents and nearly produced work to build a feature that already existed.

Multiline values work. A value whose opening quote is not closed on the same line continues onto the next, with either quote style:

PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEvQIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKcwggSjAgEAAoIBAQDGxYz1
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"
NEXT_VAR=parsing continues normally after it

evnx convert --to json gives "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEvQ…\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----", and evnx scan reports it as a private key. Single quotes span lines too, without unescaping.

Values stay strings. evnx follows the strict .env spec, so JSON and arrays are preserved exactly but never interpreted:

CORS_ALLOWED=["https://example.com", "https://admin.example.com"]   # parses — as a string
CONFIG={"key": "value"}                                             # parses — as a string

Both are preserved character-for-character. Parse them in your application code, as you would with any other .env loader.

Escape sequences work the same whether or not the value spans lines. In a double-quoted value \n, \t, \\, \" and \' are interpreted; single-quoted and backtick values are literal. So an escaped quote is fine in either shape:

ONE_LINE="he said \"hello\""
SPANNING="he said \"hello\"
and left"

⚠️ This changed — see the CHANGELOG for the version. The second form used to be a parse error, and a double-quoted value that spanned lines kept its backslashes instead of resolving them, so "x\ty" gave a tab on one line but a literal backslash and t across two. If you relied on backslashes surviving verbatim inside a multiline double-quoted value, switch it to single quotes, which are literal by definition.

One thing genuinely does not work — triple-quoted / heredoc style, which is not .env syntax in any dialect evnx targets:

# not supported
DATABASE_HOSTS="""
host1.example.com
"""

A --lenient flag for extended syntax is under consideration — see open issues.

Multiple environments are supported as of v0.5.0. evnx scan reads every .env variant it walks past, and --env-name production resolves to .env.production across validate, scan, diff, sync, convert, backup and template.

⚠️ Before v0.5.0, evnx scan silently skipped .env.production, .env.local, .env.staging and every other dotted variant, and reported "no secrets detected" without opening them. If you relied on evnx scan as a gate on an earlier version, it never saw the file most likely to hold production credentials.

Windows — file permissions checking is limited (no Unix permission model). Terminal color support requires PowerShell or Windows Terminal on older systems.

---

Development

git clone https://github.com/urwithajit9/evnx.git
cd evnx

cargo build                          # core features only
cargo build --all-features
cargo test
cargo clippy --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo fmt

Feature flags:

[features]
default = []
net     = ["dep:reqwest"]                    # update --check
migrate = ["net", "dep:crypto_box"]          # migrate (GitHub upload uses both)
backup  = ["dep:aes-gcm", "dep:argon2"]
cloud   = ["net", "dep:evnx-crypto", …]      # auth, vault, cloud, org
full    = ["migrate", "backup"]

The prebuilt binaries are built with --all-features.

---

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Contributions are welcome in: additional format converters, secret pattern improvements, Windows enhancements, extended .env format support, and integration examples.

---

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

---

Credits

Built by Ajit Kumar.

Related projects: python-dotenv, dotenvy, direnv, git-secrets.

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