ee - Environment Variable Manager with Schema Support

ee is a CLI tool that brings structure and validation to environment variable management. It enables teams to define, validate, and manage environment variables across different environments with schema-based validation and inheritance support.

Features

• Schema-based validation with type checking
• Support for multiple environments (dev, staging, prod)
• Variable inheritance between environments
• Regex pattern validation
• Default values
• Required field enforcement
• Multiple export formats (.env, JSON, YAML)
• Cross-platform support (Linux, macOS, Windows)
• Editor integration for configuration
• Comprehensive logging system

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

Install the latest version with a single command:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n1rna/ee-cli/main/install.sh | sh

Alternative Installation Methods

# Using Go
go install github.com/n1rna/ee-cli/cmd/ee@latest

# Download specific version
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n1rna/ee-cli/main/install.sh | sh -s -- --version v1.0.0

# From source
git clone https://github.com/n1rna/ee.git
cd ee
make install

Manual Installation

1. Download the appropriate binary for your platform from the releases page
2. Make it executable: chmod +x ee
3. Move it to your PATH: sudo mv ee /usr/local/bin/

Verify Installation

ee version

Quick Start

1. Create a new project with a schema:

ee new myproject

2. Create different environments:

ee new myproject --env development
ee new myproject --env production

3. Edit environment variables:

ee edit myproject --env development

4. Apply variables and run commands:

# Start a shell with the environment loaded
ee apply myproject --env development

# Run a command with the environment
ee apply myproject --env development -- npm start

Schema Example

name: myproject-schema
variables:
  - name: BASE_URL
    type: string
    regex: "^https?://.*$"
    default: "http://localhost:8000"
    required: true

  - name: DEBUG
    type: boolean
    default: "false"
    required: true

  - name: API_KEY
    type: string
    required: true

Commands

• ee init [project-name] - Initialize a new ee project (creates .ee + sample .env files)
• ee apply <environment|file> [-- command] - Apply an environment (or .env file) and run a command
• ee verify [--fix] - Validate the project against its schema and environment files
• ee hydrate <environment> - Generate an env file from the shell environment + schema defaults
• ee push [origin] <environment> - Push secrets to a remote origin (GitHub, Cloudflare)
• ee auth [tool] - Check authentication status for origin CLI tools (gh, wrangler)

Cloudflare pushes use wrangler. If it isn't on your PATH, ee automatically runs it via bunx wrangler or npx wrangler, so a project-local install (or no install at all, with bun/npx fetching it on demand) works without a global setup.

• ee skill <agent> - Install the ee usage guide for your AI coding agent (see below)
• ee - Inspect/filter the current shell's environment variables

AI Coding Agent Integration

ee can teach your AI coding agent how to work with environment variables in a project by installing a usage guide (an "ee-usage" skill) into the location each agent expects. The guide explains how to add ee to a new project, how to work with a project that already has ee set up, the .ee/schema/.env formats, and the full command reference.

# Install the skill for your agent of choice
ee skill claude       # -> .claude/skills/ee-usage/SKILL.md
ee skill cursor       # -> .cursor/rules/ee-usage.mdc
ee skill copilot      # -> .github/copilot-instructions.md
ee skill codex        # -> AGENTS.md
ee skill opencode     # -> AGENTS.md

# Install for every supported agent at once
ee skill all

# List supported agents, or preview the guide without writing a file
ee skill --list
ee skill claude --print

Use --force to overwrite an existing file (for example, to refresh the guide after upgrading ee). Commit the generated file so your whole team's agents pick it up.

Configuration

ee stores all data in ~/.ee/ by default. You can override this with:

• ee_HOME environment variable
• --dir flag in commands

Directory structure:

~/.ee/
├── schemas/           # Schema definitions
└── projects/         # Project configurations
    └── myproject/
        ├── development.yaml
        └── production.yaml

Building from Source

# Install dependencies
make deps

# Build
make build

# Run tests
make test

# Install locally
make install

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to the branch
5. Create a Pull Request

License

MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details