Manage environment variables

Use this guide to add or change environment variables in Fiveonefour Hosting. Choose the right scope first, then update the matching settings page so the correct project or branch deployment picks up the new value.

Before you start, make sure you know:

whether the value should apply to an entire org, one project, or one branch
which project or branch you want to affect
that a new deployment is required before the change takes effect

1. Choose the right settings page

Settings page	Use it when you want to	What it shows
Organization settings	Set a default inherited across the org	Only org-scoped vars
Project settings	Set a project default or verify the effective project value	The resolved `org + project` set for that project
Branch settings	Override one branch or inspect override state	The `org + project + branch` variants together

The UI labels these rows as Org setting, Project setting, and Branch setting.

2. Pick the right scope

Hosting has three scopes:

org applies across the organization
project applies to one project and all of its branch deployments
branch applies to one branch and overrides the same key for that branch only

Precedence is branch > project > org.

Use org when most projects should share the same value.

Use project when one project needs a different default than the org value.

Use branch when one preview branch needs a temporary override without changing the rest of the project.

Example:

Set CLICKHOUSE_HOST at org if most projects should share the same default.
Set CLICKHOUSE_HOST at project if one project needs a different value than the org default.
Set CLICKHOUSE_HOST at branch if one preview branch needs a temporary override without changing the rest of the project.

3. Enter a valid key and value

Keys must match ^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*$
Keys must start with a letter
Keys can contain only uppercase letters, numbers, and underscores
Keys are capped at 255 characters
Values are required
Values are capped at 10 KB encoded size

Examples:

API_URL is valid
apiUrl is invalid
1PASSWORD_KEY is invalid because it starts with a number

4. Manage overrides deliberately

The same key can exist at org, project, and branch scope at the same time.
A project-scoped variable is inherited by every branch deployment for that project unless a branch-scoped variable with the same key overrides it.
Org-scoped variables are inherited everywhere unless a project or branch override replaces them.
Updates keep the variable in its existing scope. To move a key between scopes, create it at the new scope and delete it from the old one.

If the same key exists at multiple scopes, the project page shows the effective value after org and project inheritance are resolved. The branch page shows all three scoped variants together so you can see which row is overriding another.

5. Redeploy to apply the change

Fiveonefour resolves environment variables at deploy start, not when you open the settings page.

For a branch deployment, Fiveonefour resolves the final env-var set for that branch and sends the resolved {name, value} list downstream. That means:

branch-scoped vars are stored as branch settings and apply to future deployments for that branch
project-scoped vars keep flowing into branch deployments unless overridden
changing a value affects new deployments, not historical ones

Changed-since-deploy checks are project-wide

When Hosting says environment variables changed since a deployment, that check includes org-scoped vars, project-scoped vars, and all branch-scoped vars under the same project. It is not limited to the current branch.

Recommended workflow

Put shared defaults at org.
Put project-specific values at project.
Use branch for preview-only or temporary branch-specific overrides.
After changing environment variables, start a new deployment for the project or branch that should pick them up.