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Direnv

devenv now supports native auto activation without direnv

As of devenv 2.0, devenv shell supports native shell reloading and devenv hook provides automatic activation when switching directories with no external dependencies.

For most workflows, devenv shell combined with devenv hook is the recommended approach. direnv is still useful if you prefer in place environment modification without a subshell.

See the auto activation guide for setup instructions.

You can configure devenv to seamlessly switch development environments when navigating between project directories.

This feature relies on a separate tool called direnv (not to be confused with devenv).

Configure shell activation

Create an .envrc file in your project directory with the following content:

v1.4+

.envrc

#!/usr/bin/env bash


eval "$(devenv direnvrc)"


# You can pass flags to the devenv command
# For example: use devenv --impure --option services.postgres.enable:bool true
use devenv

v1.3 and older

.envrc

#!/usr/bin/env bash


source_url "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cachix/devenv/82c0147677e510b247d8b9165c54f73d32dfd899/direnvrc" "sha256-7u4iDd1nZpxL4tCzmPG0dQgC5V+/44Ba+tHkPob1v2k="


use devenv

This file configures direnv to use devenv for shell activation.

Note

devenv init does not create a .envrc file by default.

New in version 2.2

Use devenv init --include-envrc to include an .envrc file. On earlier versions, create it manually using the snippet above.

Approving and loading the shell

Once the .envrc file is in place, you’ll see a warning in your shell:

direnv: error ~/myproject/.envrc is blocked. Run `direnv allow` to approve its content

Run direnv allow to approve the .envrc file. This step is a security measure to ensure you’ve reviewed the content before allowing it to modify your shell environment.

After approval, direnv will automatically load and unload the devenv environment whenever you enter and exit the project directory:

$ cd /home/user/myproject/
direnv: loading ~/myproject/.envrc
Building shell ...
Entering shell ...


(devenv) $

Passing flags to devenv

You can pass command-line options directly to devenv by adding them after the use devenv command in your .envrc file:

# Example: override configuration options
use devenv --option services.postgres.enable:bool true

Customizing PS1

If you’d like to use direnv and have your prompt be aware of it, we recommend installing Starship.

Ignoring the `.direnv` directory

The .direnv directory will be added to your .gitignore file by default when you run devenv init.

To add it manually, run:

echo ".direnv" >> .gitignore

Manually managing updates to direnvrc

We occasionally make updates to our direnv integration script, also known as the direnvrc.

From v1.4 and onwards, devenv will use the latest compatible version if set up using the latest method described above in Configure Shell Activation. For older versions, the pinned script has to be updated manually.

Pinning the direnvrc to a specific version from the source repository allows you audit the direnvrc script and have full control over when it is updated. The downside is that you will have to manually update the URL and content hash of the script for every single project individually.

The direnvrc can be found at:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cachix/devenv/VERSION/devenv/direnvrc

Replace VERSION with a valid git tag or branch name.

For instance, for version 1.9.2, use:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cachix/devenv/v1.9.2/devenv/direnvrc

To use it in your .envrc, first compute its sha256 hash:

direnv fetchurl "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cachix/devenv/VERSION/devenv/direnvrc"

Found hash: <HASH>

Then modify your .envrc, updating the URL and inserting the computed hash from the previous step:

source_url "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cachix/devenv/VERSION/devenv/direnvrc" "<HASH>"


use devenv

Last updated Oct 11, 2026