Quickstart

Introduction

better-env is a simple, secure CLI tool to manage environment variables centrally on your machine using OpenPGP encryption. Keep your secrets out of repos and out of plaintext files, loading them into apps only at runtime. Never accidentally commit secrets again. .better-env files are fully commit-safe.

Why better-env?

Installation

Linux/MacOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HarishChandran3304/better-env/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

Windows

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HarishChandran3304/better-env/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex"

Setup

bnv setup

You will be prompted to setup a new OpenPGP key.

Usage

1) Store secrets (one-time)

bnv store KEY

2) Import and use secrets

cd /path/to/my/project
bnv init
bnv add KEY

# Interactive shell (recommended)
bnv shell
# ... your commands here ...
exit

# One-off command
bnv run python3 main.py

The idea is you store the secrets once in the global store, and you can import and use them in your projects whenever you want.

Core concepts

• The Global Store: A single encrypted store of all your secrets lives in the user's config directory.
• The Project Link: Each project has a .better-env file that lists which keys the project uses.
• Two ways to use secrets:
  • bnv shell: start an interactive shell with secrets loaded
  • bnv run: run a command with secrets only available to the child process