direnv

Auto-load project env vars when you cd into a folder

🐧 Linux🍎 Mac🪟 Windows

Reviewed: 2026-06|Tested on: Kubernetes 1.29 · Terraform 1.8 · Ubuntu 22.04

What is this?

direnv loads environment variables automatically when you enter a project directory.

📁

Config files for direnv

Where to create or edit the main configuration — paths below match the setup steps.

.envrc
Location: Project directory (auto-loaded on cd)
Per-project environment variables

📥

Step 01

Linux

1sudo apt-get install -y direnv
2echo 'eval "$(direnv hook bash)"' >> ~/.bashrc

⚙️

Step 02

Linux

1echo 'export API_KEY=dev' > .envrc
2direnv allow

✅

Step 03

Linux

1direnv version