# Passing in env variables to orb jobs **URL:** \ **Category:** Orbs\ **Created:** [June 7, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782 "2019-06-07T23:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wyardley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/wyardley/32/19231_2.png) [@wyardley](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/wyardley)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/1 "2019-06-07T23:47:46Z")
[https://circleci.com/docs/2.0/env-vars/](https://circleci.com/docs/2.0/env-vars/) mentions using environment in (normal) job steps: Whether I use key / value or an array + key value, this seems to fail validation, since environment isn’t a valid param of the orb: ``` version: 2.1 orbs: bar: foo/bar@1 workflows: version: 2 pipeline: jobs: - bar/deploy: context: org-global environment: - FOO: 'bar' target-env: blah ``` What’s the canonical way to allow setting env vars in an orb? Just having a passthrough parameter? Anyone have a good example of this? Alternately, I guess I could override environment for the executor instead? ---
**Author:** ![rose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/rose/32/7816_2.png) [@rose](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/rose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/2 "2019-06-10T14:22:29Z")
Correct, there’s not a great way to do this @wyardley. If you’re making the orb, and you anticipate folks will want to pass a lot of environment variables, then you might make a passthrough parameter. That said, since we don’t currently provide a `list` type, or any built-in looping functionality, etc., it would be hard to make it work for multiple environment variables without creating a single parameter for each one, which isn’t ideal. It’s worth mentioning that `run` steps also take environment variables, so if there’s a particular thing you want to use them for in your job, you can always use `pre-steps` and `post-steps` and set the environment variables on a `run` step there. That said, if the environment variables are needed for the actual orb logic being carried out by the job, then I’d say that suggests the job should already have the requisite parameters for folks to pass it whatever environment variables it will need. ---
**Author:** ![wyardley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/wyardley/32/19231_2.png) [@wyardley](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/wyardley)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/3 "2019-06-10T17:03:57Z")
Got it, thanks. And I found some basic docs, but can someone confirm how I would set a parameter for an excutor rather than a host? Also, if I already have ``` environment: - FOO: << parameters.foo >> ``` Is there any way to also do a merge of an environment parameter, such that all the values in that param are merged? Or would I have to parameterize every value needed individually? ---
**Author:** ![wyardley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/wyardley/32/19231_2.png) [@wyardley](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/wyardley)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/4 "2019-06-10T17:18:29Z")
Also, do conditionals only work for steps? I checked, and seems like they don’t work with env. ---
**Author:** ![rose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/rose/32/7816_2.png) [@rose](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/rose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/5 "2019-06-10T17:21:21Z")
@wyardley I think you would need to parameterize them individually: > [@rose](#): > > [S]ince we don’t currently provide a `list` type, or any built-in looping functionality, etc., it would be hard to make it work for multiple environment variables without creating a single parameter for each one, which isn’t ideal. > [@wyardley](#): > > can someone confirm how I would set a parameter for an excutor rather than a host? Not sure exactly what you mean, but does this help? [https://github.com/CircleCI-Public/orb-tools-orb/blob/master/src/executors/node-cci.yml#L5-L13](https://github.com/CircleCI-Public/orb-tools-orb/blob/master/src/executors/node-cci.yml#L5-L13) Basically, set parameters for an executor the same way you’d set them for any other orb object type (`command`, `job`, etc.). > [@wyardley](#): > > Also, do conditionals only work for steps? I checked, and seems like they don’t work with env. Correct. ---
**Author:** ![wyardley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/wyardley/32/19231_2.png) [@wyardley](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/wyardley)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/6 "2019-06-10T17:29:19Z")
> Basically, set parameters for an executor the same way you’d set them for any other orb object type ( `command` , `job` , etc.). So if I have an executor bar in orb foo, with param ‘myparam’ would I do (in my actual workflow): ``` orbs: foo: myorg/foo@1 executors: foo/bar: myparam: xyz ``` or just (like with jobs) ``` executors: bar: myparam: xyz ``` I’ll test this out, but I’m assuming the latter? The other problem I’m having is that I want to set an env var to the string ‘True’ but only if a param is set with a boolean true. Seems like that may not be possible? ---
**Author:** ![rose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/rose/32/7816_2.png) [@rose](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/rose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/7 "2019-06-10T17:42:42Z")
Neither. A job has a single executor. It would look like this: ```yaml executor: name: foo/bar myparam: xyz ``` ---
**Author:** ![rose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/rose/32/7816_2.png) [@rose](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/rose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/8 "2019-06-10T17:45:37Z")
> [@wyardley](#): > > The other problem I’m having is that I want to set an env var to the string ‘True’ but only if a param is set with a boolean true. Seems like that may not be possible? Sure, you can do this with Mustache templating. ```yaml myparam: <<#parameters.if-true-else>>True<><<^parameters.if-true-else>>optionally, set the value you'd like if it's NOT true here<> ``` ---
**Author:** ![wyardley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/wyardley/32/19231_2.png) [@wyardley](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/wyardley)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/9 "2019-06-10T20:22:18Z")
> Neither. A job has a single executor. It would look like this: So if I want to override a param for an executor, I have to do it for each job, vs. at top level? > Sure, you can do this with Mustache templating. That works perfect more or less as in your example for my use case. Question: Can that templating only be used in values, or could I use the Mustache templating to suppress the field from existing entirely (conditionally)? Are there any more docs about using Mustache templating inside orbs? A quick search didn’t turn up too much. ---
**Author:** ![rose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/rose/32/7816_2.png) [@rose](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/rose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/10 "2019-06-10T20:58:54Z")
> [@wyardley](#): > > So if I want to override a param for an executor, I have to do it for each job, vs. at top level? Not sure what you mean… What is “top level” in this case? You only ever really pass parameters to a particular instance of an executor, i.e., when it is called via a job. > [@wyardley](#): > > Question: Can that templating only be used in values, or could I use the Mustache templating to suppress the field from existing entirely (conditionally)? Are there any more docs about using Mustache templating inside orbs? A quick search didn’t turn up too much. You _should_ be able to use it almost anywhere in your orb source code. I’m not sure if it’s documented anywhere in CircleCI documentation, but this is a good general documentation source: [https://mustache.github.io/mustache.5.html](https://mustache.github.io/mustache.5.html) I agree that it should probably be mentioned somewhere in our own documentation, though… Can you please file an issue here? > **[GitHub - circleci/circleci-docs: Documentation for CircleCI.](https://github.com/circleci/circleci-docs)** > > Documentation for CircleCI. Contribute to circleci/circleci-docs development by creating an account on GitHub. ---
**Author:** ![wyardley](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/wyardley/32/19231_2.png) [@wyardley](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/wyardley)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/11 "2019-06-10T21:17:44Z")
> [@rose](#): > > Not sure what you mean… What is “top level” in this case? You only ever really pass parameters to a particular instance of an executor, i.e., when it is called via a job. So, I guess I would have expected that since executors are parameterized, that I could set that parameter for all instances of an executor. Let’s say I have an executor named ‘node’ (e.g., [https://circleci.com/orbs/registry/orb/honeyscience/node](https://circleci.com/orbs/registry/orb/honeyscience/node) ) – I might want to set the version of node used for all jobs using that executor. I guess this would have been trying to get around the fact that you can’t set top level parameters for orbs themselves. ---
**Author:** ![rose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/rose/32/7816_2.png) [@rose](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/rose)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/12 "2019-06-10T21:33:43Z")
Not really, that’s why defaults exist though. Ideally, you set sensible defaults for your executors’ parameters, and then don’t have to pass them different values particularly often. And you can always use YAML anchors to avoid repeating things. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/original/3X/5/1/511608acda8e85906e15909b57bd0a46c1dbe291.png) [@system](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/passing-in-env-variables-to-orb-jobs/30782/13 "2019-06-20T21:33:44Z")
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