Environment Variables

Your application receives configuration through environment variables. SKE assembles these from multiple sources with a defined precedence order.

Sources of environment variables

1. Secrets — set via ske secret set, stored encrypted in your cloud provider. These take highest precedence.
2. ske.yml env block — environment-specific variables defined in your config file. Good for non-sensitive, environment-varying config.
3. Runtime defaults — SKE sets standard variables for the runtime (database connection strings, cache endpoints, queue URLs) based on your provisioned infrastructure.
4. Framework defaults — the Laravel runtime sets sensible defaults like LOG_CHANNEL=stderr and SESSION_DRIVER=cookie.

Precedence

Secrets override everything. If you set DB_HOST as a secret and it also appears in ske.yml or as a runtime default, the secret value wins.

Secrets > ske.yml env > Runtime defaults > Framework defaults

Defining variables in ske.yml

name: my-app
environments:
  production:
    env:
      APP_DEBUG: "false"
      CACHE_DRIVER: "redis"
      QUEUE_CONNECTION: "sqs"
  staging:
    env:
      APP_DEBUG: "true"
      CACHE_DRIVER: "array"

These are committed to version control, so don’t put sensitive values here. Use secrets for anything that should stay private.

Runtime-injected variables

SKE automatically sets environment variables based on your provisioned infrastructure:

Variable	Source	Example
DB_HOST	Attached database	my-db.abc123.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com
DB_PORT	Attached database	3306
DB_DATABASE	Attached database	my_app
DB_USERNAME	Attached database	ske_admin
DB_PASSWORD	Attached database	(auto-generated)
CACHE_HOST	Attached cache	my-cache.abc123.cache.amazonaws.com
CACHE_PORT	Attached cache	6379
SQS_PREFIX	Queue configuration	https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012
SQS_QUEUE	Queue configuration	my-app-production-default

These are set automatically when you attach a database, cache, or configure queues for an environment. You don’t need to set them manually.

Secrets vs. environment variables

Use a secret when…	Use ske.yml env when…
The value is sensitive (passwords, API keys)	The value is not sensitive
The value differs between local and deployed	The value is tied to the environment config
The value should not be in version control	The value should be reviewed in PRs
The value changes independently of deploys	The value changes with code

Common variables to set as secrets

ske secret set APP_KEY
ske secret set DB_PASSWORD
ske secret set MAIL_PASSWORD
ske secret set AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
ske secret set AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
ske secret set STRIPE_SECRET
ske secret set SENTRY_DSN