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# Using direnv with GitHub Actions
direnv can be integrated into GitHub Actions workflows to manage environment variables from `.envrc` files. This is particularly useful for:
- Maintaining consistent environment variables between local development and CI/CD
- Managing secrets and configuration in a familiar way
- Reusing existing `.envrc` files in your CI pipeline
## Basic Usage
The `direnv export gha` command outputs environment variables in the format required by GitHub Actions. Here's a basic example:
```yaml
name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Install direnv
run: |
curl -sfL https://direnv.net/install.sh | bash
echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
- name: Load environment variables
run: |
direnv allow .
direnv export gha > "$GITHUB_ENV"
- name: Run tests
run: |
# Your environment variables from .envrc are now available
echo "DATABASE_URL=$DATABASE_URL"
make test
```
## Installation in GitHub Actions
There are several ways to install direnv in your GitHub Actions workflow:
### Using the install script (recommended)
```yaml
- name: Install direnv
run: |
curl -sfL https://direnv.net/install.sh | bash
echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
```
### Using package managers
On Ubuntu runners:
```yaml
- name: Install direnv
run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y direnv
```
On macOS runners:
```yaml
- name: Install direnv
run: brew install direnv
```
### Using a specific version
```yaml
- name: Install direnv
run: |
wget -O direnv https://github.com/direnv/direnv/releases/download/v2.34.0/direnv.linux-amd64
chmod +x direnv
sudo mv direnv /usr/local/bin/
```
## Security Considerations
1. **Always use `direnv allow`**: Even in CI, direnv requires explicit permission to load `.envrc` files
2. **Be careful with secrets**: Don't echo or log sensitive environment variables
3. **Use GitHub Actions secrets**: Store sensitive values in GitHub Actions secrets rather than committing them to your repository
## Troubleshooting
### Environment variables not available
Make sure you're using `> "$GITHUB_ENV"` to override to the GitHub environment file:
```yaml
# Correct
direnv export gha > "$GITHUB_ENV"
# Incorrect - this just prints to stdout
direnv export gha
```
### Permission denied errors
Ensure direnv is executable and in your PATH:
```yaml
- name: Install and setup direnv
run: |
curl -sfL https://direnv.net/install.sh | bash
echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
# Force PATH update in current step
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
direnv allow .
direnv export gha >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
```
### Debugging
To debug issues, you can examine what direnv is doing:
```yaml
- name: Debug direnv
run: |
direnv version
direnv status
cat .envrc
direnv allow .
direnv export gha
```
## Example: Complete Node.js Workflow
Here's a complete example for a Node.js project:
```yaml
name: Node.js CI
on:
push:
branches: [ main ]
pull_request:
branches: [ main ]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
strategy:
matrix:
node-version: [18.x, 20.x]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Install direnv
run: |
curl -sfL https://direnv.net/install.sh | bash
echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
- name: Setup Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
- name: Load environment
run: |
# Create .envrc if it doesn't exist
if [ ! -f .envrc ]; then
cat > .envrc <<'EOF'
export NODE_ENV=test
export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://localhost/test_db"
PATH_add node_modules/.bin
EOF
fi
direnv allow .
direnv export gha >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
- name: Install dependencies
run: npm ci
- name: Run tests
run: npm test
- name: Run linter
run: npm run lint
```
## See Also
- [GitHub Actions Environment Files](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-commands-for-github-actions#environment-files)
- [direnv Documentation](https://direnv.net)
- [direnv-stdlib(1)](../man/direnv-stdlib.1.md)
|
