From 5d04227a2ebea8ac7e18450123c78d86bbd4667d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lila Brooks Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:01:24 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] docs: clarify .env.example is not auto-loaded MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Nothing in the CLI loads a .env file: the settings layer reads os.environ directly (no dotenv dependency, by design). The old header said "Copy to .env for local use", which invites a silent failure — values placed in .env are never read unless the user exports them. Rewrite the header to state there is no auto-loader and show how to export or source the vars (set -a; . ./.env; set +a). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 --- .env.example | 5 ++++- CHANGELOG.md | 3 +++ 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example index 9944156..e75059e 100644 --- a/.env.example +++ b/.env.example @@ -1,4 +1,7 @@ -# Copy to .env for local use; .env is git-ignored and must never be committed. +# Reference list of the environment variables this CLI reads. Nothing loads a +# .env file automatically: the settings layer reads os.environ directly, so +# export these in your shell (or copy this file to a git-ignored .env and load +# it yourself, e.g. `set -a; . ./.env; set +a`). Values here are placeholders. # These variables belong to the optional model-provider layer; delete this # file if you remove that layer. diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md index c5b5c5a..b9d58fd 100644 --- a/CHANGELOG.md +++ b/CHANGELOG.md @@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ All notable changes to this project are documented here. The format is based on - README now leads the "Using the template" section with the rename step the GitHub "Use this template" button cannot run, and describes the owner, contact, and version resets `rename-project` performs. +- `.env.example` now states that nothing loads `.env` automatically and shows + how to export or source the variables, since the settings layer reads + `os.environ` directly. ## [0.2.0] - 2026-07-17