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Set environment variables and secrets once, at the account (or org) level, and boxd injects them into every machine you own — into login shells, into the environment your boxd exec commands and coding agents run in, and into services your machine starts at boot. No per-VM setup, no .env files to copy around. There are two kinds:
boxd envboxd secret
Fornon-sensitive configtokens, API keys, passwords
At restcleartextsealed
Readable backyes — list shows valuesnever — list shows names + scope only
Both are injected into your machines the same way (as environment variables). The difference is at rest: env var values are stored in cleartext and shown by list; secret values are sealed and never returned by the API — not even to you. To change a secret you re-set it. Manage them from any boxd CLI — the laptop CLI, the SSH CLI, or the in-VM CLI — or from the console.

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Environment variables

boxd env set DATABASE_URL postgres://user:pass@db.example.com/app   # create or update
boxd env list                                                       # list (values shown; alias: ls)
boxd env rm DATABASE_URL                                            # remove (alias: remove)

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Secrets

boxd secret set OPENAI_API_KEY sk-...      # create or rotate (sealed at rest)
boxd secret list                           # names + scope only — never the value (alias: ls)
boxd secret rm OPENAI_API_KEY              # remove (alias: remove)
boxd secret scope OPENAI_API_KEY private   # move a secret to a different scope (value preserved)
Secrets are write-only: there’s no get, and list never returns a value. Rotate one by running set again with the new value.

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Naming

Names must be valid environment identifiers (letters, digits, underscores; not starting with a digit). The BOXD_* prefix is reserved for boxd’s own variables.

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Scope (in an org context)

When you’re working in an org context, --scope decides which of the org’s machines receive the variable:
ScopeApplies to
sharedshared org machines only (default)
privateyour private, org-billed machines only
allboth
boxd env set API_BASE https://api.internal --scope all
boxd secret set DEPLOY_KEY ... --scope private
In your personal context the scope is always all (your personal machines) — the --scope flag is ignored. boxd secret scope <name> <scope> moves an existing secret between scopes without re-entering its value.

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How they reach a machine

On boot — and on every login shell — boxd resolves the env vars and secrets in scope for that machine and exports them. So they’re present for:
  • interactive shells (ssh <vm>.boxd),
  • boxd exec commands,
  • the pre-installed coding agents, and
  • services your machine starts at boot.
Add or rotate a value and new machines pick it up immediately; already-running machines see it on their next boot profile refresh.