⚙️ direnv Examples

Practical examples of using direnv to automatically configure project-specific development environments.

🧠 What is direnv?

direnv is a shell extension that automatically loads and unloads environment variables when you enter or leave a directory. It’s perfect for managing things like:

• Language versions (e.g. Node.js, Python)
• Virtual environments
• Secret environment variables
• Project-specific setup

📦 What's inside

This repository includes examples of using direnv with popular development setups:

Language	Tool	Folder
Python	virtualenv/pipenv	Python
Terraform	dotenv	Terraform
Node.js	nvm	Node

Each folder contains:

• A working .envrc file

• A README.md explaining how it works and how to use it

• A bunch of examples

🧩 Setup in your project

1. 🛠️ Step 1 – Install direnv

   direnv is packaged in most distributions already. See the installation documentation for details.

   • Brew macOS

     brew install direnv

   • Debian/Ubuntu

     sudo apt install direnv

   • Debian/Ubuntu

     sudo apt install direnv

2. 🧠 Step 2 – Hook direnv into your shell

   echo 'eval "$(direnv hook zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc # or bash/fish

3. 🔐 Step 3 – Trust the project directory

   💡 Note: Run direnv allow only the first time you enter the project folder, or whenever you make changes to the .envrc file.

   Navigate to your project folder

   direnv allow

4. 🔁 Step 4 – Automatic loading!

   ✅ Output on success

   direnv: loading ~/my-project/.envrc
   direnv: export +VIRTUAL_ENV ~PATH

   ❌ Output on error

   direnv: error ~/my-project/.envrc is blocked. Run `direnv allow` to approve its content
   

📄 License

MIT