Use variables

Get a list of all variables defined on a given environment in the Console or use the CLI:

upsun var

You get output similar to the following:

Variables on the project Example (abcdef123456), environment main:
+------+---------+-------+---------+
| Name | Level   | Value | Enabled |
+------+---------+-------+---------+
| foo  | project | bar   | true    |
+------+---------+-------+---------+

Access variables in a shell

Project and environment variables with the prefix env: are available as Unix environment variables in all caps. Access these variables and Upsun-provided variables directly like this:

echo $FOO
bar
echo $PLATFORM_APPLICATION_NAME
Sample Project

Other project and environment variables are listed together in the PLATFORM_VARIABLES variable as a base64-encoded JSON object. Access them like this:

echo $PLATFORM_VARIABLES | base64 --decode
{"theanswer": "42"}

You can also get the value for a single variable within the array, such as with this command, which uses the jq processor:

echo $PLATFORM_VARIABLES | base64 --decode | jq '.theanswer'
"42"

Variable availability depends on the type and configuration. Variables available during builds can be accessed in build hooks and those available at runtime can be accessed in deploy hooks.

Access variables in your app

To access environment variables in your app, use a built-in method for the given language.

PHP
Python
Node.js
Ruby
Java

<?php

// A simple variable.
$projectId = getenv('PLATFORM_PROJECT');

// An encoded JSON object.
$variables = json_decode(base64_decode(getenv('PLATFORM_VARIABLES')), TRUE);

import os
import json
import base64

# A simple variable.
project_id = os.getenv('PLATFORM_PROJECT')

# An encoded JSON object.
variables = json.loads(base64.b64decode(os.getenv('PLATFORM_VARIABLES')).decode('utf-8'))

const { env } = process;

// Utility to assist in decoding a packed JSON variable.
function read_base64_json(varName) {
  try {
    return JSON.parse(Buffer.from(env[varName], "base64").toString());
  } catch (err) {
    throw new Error(`no ${varName} environment variable`);
  }
};

// A simple variable.
const projectId = env.PLATFORM_PROJECT;

// An encoded JSON object.
const variables = read_base64_json('PLATFORM_VARIABLES');

# A simple variable.
project_id = ENV["PLATFORM_PROJECT"] || nil

# An encoded JSON object.
variables = JSON.parse(Base64.decode64(ENV["PLATFORM_VARIABLES"]))

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Base64;
import java.util.Map;

import static java.lang.System.getenv;
import static java.util.Base64.getDecoder;

public class App {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        // A simple variable.
        final String project = getenv("PLATFORM_PROJECT");
        // An encoded JSON object.
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        final Map<String, Object> variables = mapper.readValue(
                String.valueOf(getDecoder().decode(getenv("PLATFORM_VARIABLES"))), Map.class);
    }
}

Access complex values

Variables can have nested structures. The following example shows nested structures in an app configuration: You can access these nested variables as follows:

Shell
PHP
Python
Node.js

echo $BASIC
a string
echo $INGREDIENTS
["peanut butter", "jelly"]
echo $QUANTITIES
{"cookies": "1 kg", "milk": "1 liter"}
echo "$PLATFORM_VARIABLES" | base64 --decode | jq '."stuff:STEPS"'
[
  "one",
  "two",
  "three"
]
echo "$PLATFORM_VARIABLES" | base64 --decode | jq '."stuff:COLORS"'
{
  "blue": "#0000FF",
  "green": "#00FF00",
  "red": "#FF0000"
}

<?php
var_dump($_ENV['BASIC']);
// string(8) "a string"

var_dump($_ENV['INGREDIENTS']);
// string(26) "["peanut butter", "jelly"]"

var_dump($_ENV['QUANTITIES']);
// string(38) "{"milk": "1 liter", "cookies": "1 kg"}"

$variables = json_decode(base64_decode($_ENV['PLATFORM_VARIABLES']), TRUE);

print_r($variables['stuff:STEPS']);
/*
array(3) {
  [0]=>
  string(2) "one"
  [1]=>
  string(4) "two"
  [2]=>
  string(5) "three"
}
*/

print_r($variables['stuff:COLORS']);
/*
array(3) {
  ["red"]=>
  string(7) "#FF0000"
  ["green"]=>
  string(7) "#00FF00"
  ["blue"]=>
  string(7) "#0000FF"
}
*/

import os
import json
import base64

print os.getenv('BASIC')
# a string

print os.getenv('INGREDIENTS')
# ["peanut butter", "jelly"]

print os.getenv('QUANTITIES')
# {"milk": "1 liter", "cookies": "1 kg"}

variables = json.loads(base64.b64decode(os.getenv('PLATFORM_VARIABLES')).decode('utf-8'))

print variables['stuff:STEPS']
# [u'one', u'two', u'three']
print variables['stuff:COLORS']
# {u'blue': u'#0000FF', u'green': u'#00FF00', u'red': u'#FF0000'}

scriptconst { BASIC, INGREDIENTS, QUANTITIES, PLATFORM_VARIABLES } = process.env;

const { "stuff:STEPS": stuffSteps, "stuff:COLORS": stuffColors } = JSON.parse(
  Buffer.from(PLATFORM_VARIABLES, "base64").toString()
);

console.log(BASIC);
// "a string"
console.log(INGREDIENTS);
// ["peanut butter", "jelly"]
console.log(QUANTITIES);
// {"cookies": "1 kg", "milk": "1 liter"}
console.log(stuffSteps);
// [ 'one', 'two', 'three' ]
console.log(stuffColors);
// { blue: '#0000FF', green: '#00FF00', red: '#FF0000' }

Use provided variables

Upsun also provides a series of variables to inform your app about its runtime configuration. Many of them have a PLATFORM_ prefix to differentiate them from user-provided values. You can’t set or update them directly. The following table presents all available variables and whether they’re available at build time (during build hooks) and at runtime.

Variable name	Build	Runtime	Description
`CI`	Yes	No	Available for use in build scripts and tooling to modify build behavior (for example, to disable attempts to connect to other containers during the build phase, or to disable interactivity), which can help to reduce build failures.
`PLATFORM_APP_COMMAND`	No	Yes	The contents of the web start command.
`PLATFORM_APP_DIR`	Yes	Yes	The absolute path to the app directory.
`PLATFORM_APPLICATION`	Yes	Yes	A base64-encoded JSON object that describes the app. It maps certain attributes from your app configuration, some with more structure. See notes.
`PLATFORM_APPLICATION_NAME`	Yes	Yes	The app name as set in your app configuration.
`PLATFORM_BRANCH`	No	Yes	The name of the Git branch.
`PLATFORM_CACHE_DIR`	Yes	No	The directory where files are cached from one build to the next. The directory is shared among all branches, so the same cache is used for all environments.
`PLATFORM_DOCUMENT_ROOT`	No	Yes	The absolute path to the web document root, if applicable.
`PLATFORM_ENVIRONMENT`	No	Yes	The name of the Upsun environment.
`PLATFORM_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE`	No	Yes	The environment type of the Upsun environment (`development`, `staging`, or `production`).
`PLATFORM_OUTPUT_DIR`	Yes	No	The output directory for compiled languages at build time. Equivalent to `PLATFORM_APP_DIR` in most cases.
`PLATFORM_POST_APP_COMMAND`	No	Yes	The contents of the web post_start command.
`PLATFORM_PRE_APP_COMMAND`	No	Yes	The contents of the web pre_start command.
`PLATFORM_PROJECT`	Yes	Yes	The project ID.
`PLATFORM_PROJECT_ENTROPY`	Yes	Yes	A random, 56-character value created at project creation and then stable throughout the project’s life. Can be used for Drupal hash salts, Symfony secrets, and other similar values.
`PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS`	No	Yes	The `PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS` variable is automatically broken down into service environment variables, so your app can seamlessly connect to databases and other services defined in `.upsun/config.yaml`. For some advanced use cases, you may need to use the `PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS` variable itself. It is a base64-encoded JSON object of relationships, with keys that indicate the relationship names, and values that are arrays of relationship endpoint definitions. The exact format is defined differently for each service. You may need to gather `PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS` information in a `.environment` file. See how to use `.env` files, and refer to dedicated service pages for examples.
`PLATFORM_ROUTES`	No	Yes	A base64-encoded JSON object that describes the routes for the environment. It maps the content of your routes configuration. Note that this information is also available in your `/run/config.json` file.
`PLATFORM_SMTP_HOST`	No	Yes	The SMTP host to send email messages through. Is empty when mail is disabled for the current environment.
`PLATFORM_SOURCE_DIR`	Yes	No	The path to the root directory of your code repository in the context of a running source operation. The directory contains a writable copy of your repository that you can commit to during the operation.
`PLATFORM_TREE_ID`	Yes	Yes	The ID of the tree the application was built from, essentially the SHA hash of the tree in Git. Use when you need a unique ID for each build.
`PLATFORM_VARIABLES`	Some	Some	A base64-encoded JSON object with all user-defined project and environment variables that don’t use a prefix. The keys are the variable names and the values are the variable values. Availability during builds and at runtime depends on the settings for each variable. See how to access individual variables.
`PLATFORM_VENDOR`	Yes	No	Allows you to change the behavior of the build according to the vendor (Upsun or Platform.sh).
`PORT`	No	Yes	A `string` representing the port to which requests are sent if the `web.upstream.socket_family` property is unset or set to `tcp`.
`SOCKET`	No	Yes	A `string` representing the path to the Unix socket file to use if the `web.upstream.socket_family` property is set to `unix`.

`PLATFORM_APPLICATION`

The PLATFORM_APPLICATION variable is available both at build time and in the runtime environment. But the specific attributes it contains differ in each case. Each environment’s build is associated with a configuration ID that identifies it uniquely so builds can be reused. The ID is a product of your app code and some of its configuration for Upsun. Not every attribute your app configuration is relevant to the build. Only those attributes that are relevant to builds are accessible at build time from PLATFORM_APPLICATION. Attributes that are not available in PLATFORM_APPLICATION during builds:

Everything under access
Everything under relationship
hooks.deploy and hooks.post_deploy
Everything under crons
Everything under web, except web.mounts
Everything under workers, except workers.mounts

These attributes aren’t visible during build because they aren’t included as a part of the configuration component of the build slug. So modifying these values in your app configuration doesn’t trigger an app rebuild, only a redeploy. For more information, read about how builds work.

Use variables in static files

Some apps require configuration values to be specified in a static, non-executable file (such as a .ini, .xml, or .yaml file) and don’t support reading from environment variables. To populate these files with variables you set yourself, make sure the variables are set to be visible at build time. The files can’t be populated with Upsun-provided variables not available at build time (such as PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS or service environment variables). You also can’t write to them in a deploy hook as the file system is read only. One workaround is to create a symbolic link to a writable location and then write to it in a deploy hook. The following example shows the process, though you have to modify it to fit your needs.

Create a mount that isn’t accessible to the web in your app configuration:

Create a symbolic link from the config file the application wants to a location in that mount:
# From the application root... ln -s config/db.yaml db.yaml
This example assumes the app wants a db.yaml file in its root for configuration.
Commit the symbolic link and an empty config directory to Git.
Configure a script to read from environment variables and write to config/db.yaml through the service environment variables themselves, or through the PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS environment variable.
Create a file with a shell script similar to this:

Service environment variables
`PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS` environment variable

export-config.sh

   #!/bin/bash

   # Ensure the file is empty.
   cat '' > config/db.yaml

   # Map the database information from the service environment variable into the YAML file.
   # Use this process to use whatever variable names your app needs.
   # For more information, please visit /docs/development/variables#service-environment-variables.

   printf "host: %s\n" $(echo $DATABASE_HOST) >> config/db.yaml
   printf "user: %s\n" $(echo $DATABASE_USERNAME) >> config/db.yaml

export-config.sh

   #!/bin/bash

   # Ensure the file is empty.
   cat '' > config/db.yaml

   # Map the database information from the PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS variable into the YAML file.
   # Use this process to use whatever variable names your app needs.
   # For more information, please visit /docs/development/variables/use-variables#use-provided-variables.

   printf "host: %s\n" $(echo $PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS | base64 --decode | jq -r ".database[0].host") >> config/db.yaml
   printf "user: %s\n" $(echo $PLATFORM_RELATIONSHIPS | base64 --decode | jq -r ".database[0].username") >> config/db.yaml

Call the script from the deploy hook your app configuration:

Now, when your app starts and attempts to parse db.yaml, the symbolic link redirects it to config/db.yaml. Your script writes to that file on each deploy with updated information. Your app reads the exported values and proceeds as expected.

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Resources

Access variables in a shell

Access variables in your app

Access complex values

Use provided variables

`PLATFORM_APPLICATION`

Use variables in static files

​Access variables in a shell

​Access variables in your app

​Access complex values

​Use provided variables

​PLATFORM_APPLICATION

​Use variables in static files

Access variables in a shell

Access variables in your app

Access complex values

Use provided variables

`PLATFORM_APPLICATION`

Use variables in static files