Why Are Environment Variables from My Context Not Found?

Overview

In CircleCI, Contexts allow you to centrally manage and share environment variables across projects. However, you might encounter issues where environment variables defined in a Context are not accessible in your jobs. This article explores potential reasons for this issue and provides solutions to ensure proper usage of environment variables from your Context.

Method

1. Ensure Context is Attached to the Workflow

Contexts must be explicitly attached to workflows for their environment variables to be available. Verify that your config.yml includes the context keyword in the workflow:

workflows:
  version: 2
  build:
    jobs:
      - test-job:
          context:
            - my-context

If the context is missing from the workflow, environment variables will not be injected into jobs.

2. Confirm Permissions for Context Access

Contexts are linked to Security Groups, and only users with appropriate permissions can use them. Ensure that the user triggering the pipeline belongs to a group with access to the context. Check and manage access via Organization Settings > Contexts in the CircleCI web interface.

3. Verify Context Usage in Jobs

Even if a context is attached at the workflow level, environment variables may not be automatically available in all job steps. Ensure that the variables are referenced correctly within jobs:

jobs:
  test-job:
    docker:
      - image: circleci/node:latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "MY_ENV_VAR is $MY_ENV_VAR"

Use printenv in a job step to list all available environment variables and check if the expected variables appear.

4. Avoid Overwriting Environment Variables

If an environment variable is set in both a Context and directly within a config.yml file or job step, the job-defined value will take precedence. Review your pipeline to avoid unintentional overwrites:

environment:
  MY_ENV_VAR: "local_value"

5. Check for Context Name or Organization Changes

If a context or organization name has changed, previously configured references to the context may become invalid. Confirm that the correct context name is being used in config.yml and update it if necessary.

Summary

When environment variables from a Context are not found, common causes include:

  • The context is not attached to the workflow.

  • The user lacks permissions to access the context.

  • Environment variables are misused or overwritten within jobs.

  • The context name has changed or is incorrect.

By systematically checking these areas, you can resolve most issues related to missing environment variables in CircleCI Contexts.

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