---
title: Environment variables
url: /docs/iac/cli/environment-variables/
---

PULUMI_STACK

Specifies the selected pulumi stack, overriding the stack selected with `pulumi stack select STACK`
The priority is as follows:

The `--stack` command line flag
PULUMI_STACK
Stack selected with `pulumi stack select <STACK>`

PULUMI_AUTOMATION_API_SKIP_VERSION_CHECK

Skips the minimum CLI version check used by Automation API to ensure compatibility. We do not recommend using this variable as it may result in unexpected behavior or confusing error messages from Automation API.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_AUTOMATION_API_SKIP_VERSION_CHECK=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_ACCESS_TOKEN
        
    
    
        
            Set this environment variable to authenticate into the Pulumi Cloud backend and bypass the access
            token prompt when running `pulumi login`
.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ACCESS_TOKEN="your-access-token"
```

PULUMI_BACKEND_URL

Set this environment variable to use a specified backend instead of the default backend.  See [State and Backends](/docs/concepts/state) for details on valid backend URLs.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_BACKEND_URL="s3://your-pulumi-state-bucket"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_CONFIG
        
    
    
        
            Sets [configuration](/docs/concepts/config) for [unit testing](/docs/iac/guides/testing/unit/). Must be in JSON format.
        
        
            **This environment variable is ignored during normal Pulumi operations -- e.g., `up`, `preview`, etc. -- but must be valid JSON if present.**
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_CONFIG='{"project:myTag":"val1","project:mySecret":"val2"}'
```

PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE

Set this as an environment variable to protect and unlock your configuration values and secrets. Your passphrase
is used to generate a unique key for your stack, and configuration and encrypted state values are then encrypted
using `AES-256-GCM`.
Read [the change log](https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#secrets-and-pluggable-encryption)
and [Configuration and Secrets](/docs/concepts/config) to learn more about Pulumi's configuration
and secrets management system.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE="your-passphrase"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE_FILE
        
    
    
        
            An alternative method to providing `PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE`. Set this to the path of a file that contains the passphrase value.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE_FILE="/tmp/passphrase.txt"
```

PULUMI_CONSOLE_DOMAIN

Overrides the domain used when generating links to the Pulumi Cloud.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_CONSOLE_DOMAIN="yourhost.domain.com"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_CONTINUE_ON_ERROR
        
    
    
        
            Continues to perform the update/destroy operation despite the occurrence of errors.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_CONTINUE_ON_ERROR=true
```

PULUMI_COPILOT

Enables Neo help and links in the CLI output, regardless of the Neo settings for the given Pulumi organization.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_COPILOT=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DEBUG_COMMANDS
        
    
    
        
            List commands helpful for debugging Pulumi itself.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DEBUG_COMMANDS=true
```

PULUMI_DEBUG_GRPC

Enables debug tracing of Pulumi gRPC internals. The variable should be set to the log file to which gRPC debug traces will be sent.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DEBUG_GRPC="/path/to/grpc-debug.log"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DEBUG_PROMISE_LEAKS
        
    
    
        
            As of `v0.12.2`,
            the promise leak experience has been improved and shows a simple error message. Set this environment variable to
            get more verbose error messages when debugging promise leaks.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DEBUG_PROMISE_LEAKS=true
```

PULUMI_DEV

Enable features for hacking on Pulumi itself.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DEV=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DISABLE_AUTOMATIC_PLUGIN_ACQUISITION
        
    
    
        
            Disables the automatic installation of missing plugins.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DISABLE_AUTOMATIC_PLUGIN_ACQUISITION=true
```

PULUMI_DISABLE_SECRET_CACHE

Disables the caching encryption operations for unchanged stack secrets.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DISABLE_SECRET_CACHE=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DISABLE_PROVIDER_PREVIEW
        
    
    
        
            Disables provider preview and enables previous more conservative preview behavior.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DISABLE_PROVIDER_PREVIEW=true
```

PULUMI_DISABLE_VALIDATION

Disables format validation of system inputs. Currently, this disables validation of stack names.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DISABLE_VALIDATION=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_DISABLE_CHECKPOINT_BACKUPS
        
    
    
        
            If set, checkpoint backups will not be written to the backup folder.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_DISABLE_CHECKPOINT_BACKUPS=true
```

PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_GZIP

Enables gzip compression when writing state files.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_GZIP=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_LEGACY_LAYOUT
        
    
    
        
            Uses the legacy layout for new buckets, which currently default to project-scoped stacks.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_LEGACY_LAYOUT=true
```

PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_NO_LEGACY_WARNING

Disables the warning about legacy stack files mixed with project-scoped stack files.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_NO_LEGACY_WARNING=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_PARALLEL
        
    
    
        
            Number of parallel operations when fetching stacks and resources from the DIY backend.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_PARALLEL=NUMBER_OF_PARALLEL_OPERATIONS
```

PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_RETAIN_CHECKPOINTS

If set, every checkpoint will be duplicated to a timestamped file.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_DIY_BACKEND_RETAIN_CHECKPOINTS=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_APPLY
        
    
    
        
            As of `1.0.0-beta1`,
            input properties are no longer propagated to missing output properties during a `pulumi preview`. If this causes issues
            in your Pulumi program, set this to `true` to enable the old behavior.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_APPLY=true
```

PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_DIFF

As of `v0.17.23`,
the detection of differences between the actual and desired state of a resource is left entirely up to that resource's
provider. This change can expose bugs in resource providers that lead to diffs being present even if the desired
configuration matches the actual state of the resource. Set this to `1` or `true` to enable the old diff behavior.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_DIFF=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_PLUGIN_SEARCH
        
    
    
        
            As of `v0.16.18`,
            a fix has been released to prevent the Pulumi CLI from loading the newest plugin for a resource provider instead of
            the requested version. This has the potential to disrupt users that previously had working configurations. Set this
            environment variable to opt into the legacy plugin load behavior.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_PLUGIN_SEARCH=true
```

PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_REFRESH_DIFF

Use legacy refresh diff behaviour, in which only output changes are
reported and changes against the desired state are not calculated.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ENABLE_LEGACY_REFRESH_DIFF=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_ERROR_ON_DEPENDENCY_CYCLES
        
    
    
        
            Enables error reporting when dependency cycles are detected.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ERROR_ON_DEPENDENCY_CYCLES=true
```

PULUMI_ERROR_OUTPUT_STRING

Throws an error instead of returning a string when attempting to convert an Output to a string.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_ERROR_OUTPUT_STRING=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_EXPERIMENTAL
        
    
    
        
            Enables experimental options and commands.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_EXPERIMENTAL=true
```

PULUMI_FALLBACK_TO_STATE_SECRETS_MANAGER

When set to "true", the secrets manager stored in the stack's state is used as a fallback when the stack configuration is missing or incomplete.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_FALLBACK_TO_STATE_SECRETS_MANAGER=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_GITSSH_PASSPHRASE
        
    
    
        
            The passphrase to use with Git operations that use SSH.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_GITSSH_PASSPHRASE="your passphrase"
```

PULUMI_HOME

Overrides the folder where the Pulumi CLI stores its artifacts: plugins, workspaces, templates, and
credentials file. By default, artifacts are stored next to Pulumi binaries in `~/.pulumi`.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_HOME="/path/to/artifacts"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_IGNORE_AMBIENT_PLUGINS
        
    
    
        
            Disables discovering additional plugins by examining $PATH.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_IGNORE_AMBIENT_PLUGINS=true
```

PULUMI_PARALLEL

Allow P resource operations to run in parallel at once (1 for no parallelism)

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_PARALLEL=NUMBER_OF_PARALLEL_OPERATIONS
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_PARALLEL_DIFF
        
    
    
        
            Enables running diff calculations in parallel.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_PARALLEL_DIFF=true
```

PULUMI_PLUGIN_DOWNLOAD_URL_OVERRIDES

Specifies overrides for plugin-download URLs. The expected format is `regexp=URL`, and multiple pairs can be specified separated by commas.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_PLUGIN_DOWNLOAD_URL_OVERRIDES="^https://foo=https://bar,^github://=https://buzz"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_PREFER_YARN
        
    
    
        
            Set this environment variable to opt-in to using `yarn` instead of `npm` for installing Node.js dependencies.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_PREFER_YARN=true
```

PULUMI_PYTHON_CMD

As of `v0.16.6`,
the Pulumi CLI uses `python3` instead of `python` when running a Python program. Set this environment variable to
run a different Python binary.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_PYTHON_CMD="python-version-binary"
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_RUN_PROGRAM
        
    
    
        
            Runs the Pulumi program for refresh and destroy operations. This is the same as passing '--run-program=true' to the CLI.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_RUN_PROGRAM=true
```

PULUMI_SKIP_CHECKPOINTS

As of `v3.40.1`, you may skip saving state checkpoints and only save the final deployment. See [#10668](https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi/issues/10668). This is an experimental feature that also requires `PULUMI_EXPERIMENTAL=true` to be set for versions `>= v3.40.1, < v3.104.0`.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_SKIP_CHECKPOINTS=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_SKIP_CONFIRMATIONS
        
    
    
        
            As of `v2.0.0`,
            an explicit confirmation was required when running in non-interactive mode. Set this environment variable to
            make that explicit confirmation.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_SKIP_CONFIRMATIONS=true
```

PULUMI_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK

As of `v0.17.9`,
you may skip the Pulumi version update check by setting this environment variable.

<code class="text-xs">PULUMI_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK=true
```

    
    
        
            PULUMI_SUPPRESS_COPILOT_LINK
        
    
    
        
            Suppresses showing the 'explainFailure' link to Neo in the CLI output, regardless of the Neo settings for the given Pulumi organization.
        
        <code class="text-xs">PULUMI_SUPPRESS_COPILOT_LINK=true
```

NO_COLOR

The presence of this environment variable (regardless of its value) strips color ANSI codes from text
output to the terminal. See [https://no-color.org/](https://no-color.org/) for more details.
When used with Automation API, this environment variable will strip color directives from the event logs.

<code class="text-xs">NO_COLOR
```

    

## Setting CLI arguments with environment variables

As of v3.208.0, all Pulumi CLI arguments can be set via environment variables.

All CLI argument environment variables follow a predictable naming convention:
`PULUMI_OPTION_` followed by the capitalized snake case version of the argument
name. For example:

| CLI argument example                  | Environment variable example             |
| ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| `pulumi up --parallel 1`              | `PULUMI_OPTION_PARALLEL=1 pulumi up`     |
| `pulumi up --refresh`                 | `PULUMI_OPTION_REFRESH=true pulumi up`   |
| `pulumi up --yes`                     | `PULUMI_OPTION_YES=1 pulumi up`          |
| `pulumi up --target foo --target bar` | `PULUMI_OPTION_TARGET=foo,bar pulumi up` |

Note that you can specify boolean arguments either with `true` and `false` or
`1` and `0`. For more information, as well as some practical examples, see the
[release article](https://www.pulumi.com/blog/controlling-the-cli-through-environment-variables/).
```