better-env

What it does

better-env is a CLI tool that manages environment variables securely using OpenPGP encryption. Store secrets once in a global encrypted store, link them to projects via commit-safebetter-env files, and load them at runtime, no plaintext to be found anywhere.

Getting started with better-env

better-env is a simple, secure CLI tool to manage environment variables centrally on your machine using OpenPGP encryption. Keep your secrets out of repos and out of plaintext files, loading them into apps only at runtime. Never accidentally commit secrets again. .better-env files are fully commit-safe. All your secrets stored securely per user with OpenPGP encryption. No plaintext .env files needed in projects, no risk of accidentally committing secrets. Easy per-project selection of which keys to load configured in .better-env files. Start a subshell with secrets or run commands with injected secrets. curl -fsSL…from better-env.dev

In the maker’s words, at launch

.env files have always felt archaic, insecure, clunky and honestly just not fun to work with. I see my friends (and myself) accidentally committing them all the time. Managing secrets across projects becomes a mess of copy-pasting keys into scattered env files with no real way to sync anything. So I built better-env…

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  enveil – hide your .env secrets from prAIng eyesFeb 2026 · github.com · ▲201

  enject: Hide .env secrets from prAIng eyes: secrets live in local encrypted stores (per project) and are injected directly into apps at runtime, never touching disk as plaintext. - GreatScott/enject

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  EnvKey 2.0 – End-To-End Encrypted Environments (now open source)2022 · v2.envkey.com · ▲225

  Hey HN, I'm so happy to finally show you all this release after years of hard work. I posted the first version of EnvKey to HN back in 2017 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15330757), then went through YC in W18 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16569534). EnvKey is an end-to-end encrypted configuration and secrets manager. It protects your organization's API keys, encryption keys, credentials, and other secrets, and makes it easy to run servers, scripts, tests, and everything else with the latest config. It also helps you avoid duplication in your…

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  Hold My Env2024 · holdmyenv.com · ▲99

  Never lose track of your .env files again

• ES
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  Places-env, secure version control of environment files2024 · github.com · ▲6

  Now that I have your attention (“Don’t you dare version control environment files!!”, “This can’t be safe.”) and before you tear me and my project to shreds, please allow me to take a moment to celebrate something small but meaningful: I’ve finally released a thing. Thank you. Motivation tl;dr: The existing tools and libraries for versioning and syncing environment files / secrets across team members and CI machines just didn’t cut it for me. So, I set out to create my own solution — one finally checks all my boxes. So what is places-env? (I encourage you to check the readme…

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  EnvManagerJun 2026 · envmanager.com · ▲4

  I built this tool for myself, and the URL in this post points to it. I needed a secure way to store my environment variables because I work on many projects across multiple devices. Keeping each variable up‑to‑date on every device was a constant hassle. Now everything lives in a local file that I can pull and push with a simple CLI command. I never have to think about it again. The tool is also useful when you’re hiring freelancers who need access to staging or local environment variables for testing. Instead of handing over an entire .env file, only to have it linger for months and expose…

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