Environment
Edit a Git application's .env file from the panel, with a change history that records who edited it and which keys changed.
Environment is a text editor for one file: the .env in the root of a Git
application. It exists so you can set a database password or an API key
without opening an SSH session, and so that doing so leaves a trace.
The editor header shows the exact path being edited —
/home/demo-app/demo-app/.env — and the runtime that will read it. Below the
editor, Save (or Ctrl+S) writes the file; Revert throws away your
unsaved edits.
A new application starts with the file empty and a single comment in its place: "This file is empty — add variables and save."
Change history
Underneath the editor is a log of every edit made through the panel: who made it and which keys they changed.
Keys are recorded, values never are
The history records that DB_PASSWORD changed, not what it changed to. The
panel is explicit: "Values are never recorded." Editing the file over SSH
leaves no entry at all.
What reads it, and when
The file is read by your application, on the terms of whatever framework you
are using — most read it once at boot. Saving here changes the file; it does
not restart anything. For a server-side-rendered application, restart its
process from Workers; for a PHP
application, a config cache (php artisan config:cache and friends) will keep
serving the old values until you clear it.
A deploy can overwrite it
A deploy checks the repository out over the application folder. If .env is
committed to the repository — it should not be — the deploy replaces what
you saved here.