Store environment variables globally using fish-shell

Sometimes I want to use environment variables but if I set them inside of one terminal window they are no longer available if open a new terminal tab. Especially if I like to run a command globally, without providing the environment variable again-and-again, I need to persist the env variable somehow.

In this example I'm using the fish-shell because it's my most used shell.

🪠 Making the environment variable sticky in fish

Usually you set a (volatile) local environment variable with in fish with set KEY VALUE. Fish makes it quite easy to persist the environment variable over new shell instances. All I need to do is run set -U KEY VALUE which creates a "universal" environment variable instead of a local one. Fish will store your universal variable in a file in ~/.config/fish/fish_variables. Be aware that these variables are stored in clear text. 👀

Did it work?

Now I can test if the variable is universally available by setting a new env var in one terminal window with set -U MY_API_KEY 123A4h512. Then I open another terminal window and run echo $MY_API_KEY and I should see 123A4h512 printed to the screen.

In case you'd like to remove this environment variable at some point, just run: set -eU KEY VALUE.

🤔 I'm wondering how to store environment variables in an encrypted storage. Maybe this will be the topic of a future post.