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The glide.env API provides methods for managing environment variables within Glide.

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Methods

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get()

Get the value of an environment variable. 
const value = glide.env.get(
  name: string
): string | null
​
name
string
required
The name of the environment variable to retrieve.
​
value
string | null
The value of the environment variable, or null if it doesn’t exist.
Example: Get PATH variable 
const path = glide.env.get("PATH");
console.log("PATH:", path);
Example: Check if variable exists 
const editor = glide.env.get("EDITOR");
if (editor !== null) {
  console.log("Default editor:", editor);
} else {
  console.log("EDITOR not set");
}
Example: Get non-existent variable 
const value = glide.env.get("NONEXISTENT_VAR");
console.log(value); // null

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set()

Set the value of an environment variable. 
glide.env.set(
  name: string,
  value: string
): void
​
name
string
required
The name of the environment variable to set.
​
value
string
required
The value to set.
Changes affect Glide and any processes it spawns, but don’t affect the parent process that launched Glide.
Example: Set custom variable 
glide.env.set("MY_VAR", "custom_value");
console.log(glide.env.get("MY_VAR")); // "custom_value"
Example: Update PATH on macOS 
// On macOS, applications don't inherit your shell environment
// Update PATH so spawned processes can find binaries
glide.env.set(
  "PATH",
  "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin"
);
Example: Set configuration variable 
glide.env.set("GLIDE_THEME", "dark");
glide.env.set("GLIDE_DEBUG", "true");
Example: Environment variable for spawned processes 
glide.env.set("NODE_ENV", "production");

const proc = await glide.process.spawn("node", ["script.js"]);
// script.js will have NODE_ENV=production in its environment

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delete()

Remove an environment variable. 
const value = glide.env.delete(
  name: string
): string | null
​
name
string
required
The name of the environment variable to delete.
​
value
string | null
The value of the deleted environment variable, or null if it didn’t exist.
Does not error if the environment variable didn’t already exist.
Example: Delete variable 
glide.env.set("TEMP_VAR", "temporary");
const deleted = glide.env.delete("TEMP_VAR");
console.log(deleted); // "temporary"
console.log(glide.env.get("TEMP_VAR")); // null
Example: Delete non-existent variable 
const value = glide.env.delete("NONEXISTENT_VAR");
console.log(value); // null (no error thrown)
Example: Clean up after testing 
glide.env.set("TEST_MODE", "enabled");
// ... run tests ...
glide.env.delete("TEST_MODE");

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Usage Patterns

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Conditional Configuration

const mode = glide.env.get("GLIDE_MODE");
if (mode === "dev") {
  // Development-specific configuration
  glide.o.hint_chars = "asdfghjkl";
} else {
  // Production configuration
  glide.o.hint_chars = "hjklasdfgyuiopqwertnmzxcvb";
}

​
System Detection

const shell = glide.env.get("SHELL");
if (shell?.includes("zsh")) {
  console.log("Using zsh shell");
} else if (shell?.includes("bash")) {
  console.log("Using bash shell");
}

​
PATH Management

// Get current PATH
const currentPath = glide.env.get("PATH") || "";

// Add custom directory to PATH
const customBin = `${glide.path.home_dir}/bin`;
if (!currentPath.includes(customBin)) {
  glide.env.set("PATH", `${customBin}:${currentPath}`);
}

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Process Environment Variables

Environment variables set with glide.env are inherited by spawned processes: 
glide.env.set("API_KEY", "secret-key-123");

const proc = await glide.process.spawn("node", ["api-client.js"]);
// api-client.js can access process.env.API_KEY
You can also set per-process environment variables: 
// This only affects the spawned process
const proc = await glide.process.spawn("node", ["script.js"], {
  env: {
    "SCRIPT_MODE": "test",
    "DEBUG": "true"
  }
});

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Removing Environment Variables from Processes

// Delete a variable from a spawned process's environment
const proc = await glide.process.spawn("printenv", [], {
  env: {
    "UNWANTED_VAR": null  // Set to null to remove
  }
});

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Platform Differences

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macOS Considerations

On macOS, applications launched from the GUI (including Glide) don’t inherit your shell’s environment variables: 
// Common issue on macOS:
const path = glide.env.get("PATH");
console.log(path); // May only contain: "/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"

// Solution: Set PATH explicitly
glide.env.set(
  "PATH",
  "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:" +
  `${glide.path.home_dir}/.local/bin`
);

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Windows Considerations

Environment variable names on Windows are case-insensitive: 
glide.env.set("MyVar", "value");
console.log(glide.env.get("MYVAR")); // "value" (on Windows)
console.log(glide.env.get("MYVAR")); // null (on Unix)
  • glide.process - Spawn processes that inherit environment variables
  • glide.ctx.os - Detect the current operating system
  • glide.path - Path utilities for environment-dependent paths

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