Environment variable rules

Role-based access

What each role can do on this page. Roles are assigned in User management.

Administrator	Moderator	User
Read and write	No access	No access

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What the platform accepts for an application's environment variables, and how the values are stored. For the steps to set them, see Set environment variables.

Per application

An application may have at most 50 environment variables.

Names

Rule	Value
Allowed characters	Letters, numbers and underscores
First character	A letter or an underscore, never a number
Maximum length	128 characters
Reserved	Names beginning GLBNXT_
Duplicates	Refused within one application

Names are case-sensitive, and DATABASE_HOST and database_host are two different variables. That is how the container reads them, so it is how the platform treats them. The reserved prefix is checked without regard to case, so glbnxt_url is refused as well as GLBNXT_URL.

GLBNXT_ is reserved for variables the platform supplies itself. Reserving the prefix means one of your variables can never replace one of ours.

Values

Rule	Value
Type	Text, always
Maximum length	4000 characters
Lines	One. A value may not contain a line break
Empty	Allowed

A value is always handed to your container as text. If you set REPLICAS to 16, your application receives the string 16, not a number; this is how environment variables work everywhere, and it is worth remembering if your application reads them without converting.

An empty value is a legitimate setting and is not the same as not setting the variable at all.

How the values are stored

Values are stored as plain text. Anyone who can open the application in the portal can read them, including GLBNXT support staff, who need to see them in order to help you.

Do not put credentials, API keys or tokens in an environment variable.

When a change takes effect

Adding, changing or removing a variable replaces the running container. The application restarts and keeps its address. Nothing takes effect until you choose Save and restart.

How the rules are checked

The form warns you as you type when a name or value breaks a rule. The platform then validates every variable when you save, and again during the deployment. A variable that fails validation is not applied, and the message tells you which one to fix: under its row for a single variable, or on the card for the list as a whole, such as the 50-variable limit.