Environment variables

How it works

Environment variables are set per-project and injected at runtime into the container process. They are never committed to your repository and never appear in build logs.

Variables set in Lofenta take precedence over any .env file that may exist in your repository.

System variables

Lofenta automatically injects the following variables into every container:

Setting variables

The easiest way to manage environment variables is in the dashboard, under Dashboard > Environment for your project. Add, edit, or remove keys there and redeploy to apply them. You can also manage them via the API.

Via API

PUT /api/projects/[id]/env
Content-Type: application/json

[
  { "key": "DATABASE_URL", "value": "postgres://..." },
  { "key": "STRIPE_SECRET_KEY", "value": "sk_live_..." }
]

The request body is an array of { key, value } objects. This is a replace-all operation: the array you send becomes the complete set of variables.

Removing a variable

To remove a variable, omit its key from the array you send. Any key not present in the request is deleted.

Build-time variables

Variables are available both at build time (during npm run build) and at runtime (when your server process is running).

Secrets vs plain values

All environment variables are stored encrypted at rest using AES-256. Values are decrypted only at deployment time and injected directly into the container environment. They are never written to disk in plaintext.

Limits