Env Loader#

Generates and validates POSIX-compatible .env loading scripts that work consistently across bash, zsh, dash, and ash.

Problem It Solves#

source .env behaves differently across shells:

• zsh: Strips quotes from values correctly
• bash/dash: Preserves quotes as part of the value ( "value" → includes the quotes)
• All shells: source only assigns, does not export — child processes can't see the variables

This causes silent failures in deployment when .env files contain quoted values or special characters.

Usage#

Generate the Loader Script#

Run the bundled script or use the template:

bash

bash ~/.openclaw/skills/env-loader/scripts/generate-loader.sh /path/to/project

This creates load-env.sh in the target directory.

Use in Deployment Scripts#

bash

# Instead of: source .env
# Use:
. ./load-env.sh .env

Validate an Existing .env File#

bash

bash ~/.openclaw/skills/env-loader/scripts/validate-env.sh /path/to/.env

Checks for common issues: unquoted special characters, inline comments, non-POSIX variable names.

Key Design Principles#

1. POSIX-only syntax — no bashisms, no zsh-isms, works in dash/ash
2. Manual key=value parsing — never source or eval the .env file directly
3. Explicit quote stripping — removes surrounding single or double quotes consistently
4. Key validation — only allows [A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]* as variable names
5. Explicit export — every parsed variable is exported for child processes

References#

See references/env-pitfalls.md for a detailed catalog of shell-specific .env parsing pitfalls.