cenv

CLI tool to manage and switch environment variable groups instantly in the current shell session — no need to source any file after switching.

Install

npm install -g cenv

Quick Start

# 1. Install shell function (one-time setup)
cenv init
source ~/.zshrc

# 2. Create a group
cenv add prod
# > ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://api.anthropic.com/
# > ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-xxx
# > (empty line to finish)

# 3. Switch — takes effect immediately in current session
cenv use prod
echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY  # ✓ already set

How It Works

cenv init injects a tiny shell function into ~/.zshrc:

cenv() { eval "$(command cenv --eval "$@")"; }

When you run cenv use <group>, the shell function intercepts the call, runs the Node binary with --eval, captures the export statements from stdout, and evals them directly in the parent shell — modifying the current session's environment variables without writing any files.

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | cenv init | Install shell function (run once) | | cenv use <group> | Switch to group, effective immediately | | cenv list | List all groups | | cenv show [group] | Show variables in a group | | cenv add <group> | Create/update group interactively | | cenv set <group> KEY=VALUE | Set a single variable | | cenv del <group> | Delete a group | | cenv rename <old> <new> | Rename a group | | cenv current | Show active group |

Config

Groups are stored in ~/.cenv/groups.json — plain JSON, editable by hand.

{
  "active": "prod",
  "groups": {
    "default": {
      "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.anthropic.com/",
      "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-..."
    },
    "prod": {
      "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://my-proxy.com/",
      "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-..."
    }
  }
}

License

MIT