---
id: 'functions-secrets'
title: 'Environment Variables'
description: 'Managing secrets and environment variables.'
subtitle: 'Manage sensitive data securely across environments.'
---

## Default secrets

Edge Functions have access to these secrets by default:

- `SUPABASE_URL`: The API gateway for your Supabase project
- `SUPABASE_ANON_KEY`: The `anon` key for your Supabase API. This is safe to use in a browser when you have Row Level Security enabled
- `SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY`: The `service_role` key for your Supabase API. This is safe to use in Edge Functions, but it should NEVER be used in a browser. This key will bypass Row Level Security
- `SUPABASE_DB_URL`: The URL for your Postgres database. You can use this to connect directly to your database

In a hosted environment, functions have access to the following environment variables:

- `SB_REGION`: The region function was invoked
- `SB_EXECUTION_ID`: A UUID of function instance ([isolate](/docs/guides/functions/architecture#4-execution-mechanics-fast-and-isolated))
- `DENO_DEPLOYMENT_ID`: Version of the function code (`{project_ref}_{function_id}_{version}`)

---

## Accessing environment variables

You can access environment variables using Deno's built-in handler, and passing it the name of the environment variable you’d like to access.

```js
Deno.env.get('NAME_OF_SECRET')
```

For example, in a function:

```js
import { createClient } from 'npm:@supabase/supabase-js@2'

// For user-facing operations (respects RLS)
const supabase = createClient(
  Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_URL')!,
  Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_ANON_KEY')!
)

// For admin operations (bypasses RLS)
const supabaseAdmin = createClient(
  Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_URL')!,
  Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY')!
)
```

---

### Local secrets

In development, you can load environment variables in two ways:

1. Through an `.env` file placed at `supabase/functions/.env`, which is automatically loaded on `supabase start`
2. Through the `--env-file` option for `supabase functions serve`. This allows you to use custom file names like `.env.local` to distinguish between different environments.

```bash
supabase functions serve --env-file .env.local
```

<Admonition type="caution">

Never check your `.env` files into Git! Instead, add the path to this file to your `.gitignore`.

</Admonition>

We can automatically access the secrets in our Edge Functions through Deno’s handler

```tsx
const secretKey = Deno.env.get('STRIPE_SECRET_KEY')
```

Now we can invoke our function locally. If you're using the default `.env` file at `supabase/functions/.env`, it's automatically loaded:

```bash
supabase functions serve hello-world
```

Or you can specify a custom `.env` file with the `--env-file` flag:

```bash
supabase functions serve hello-world --env-file .env.local
```

This is useful for managing different environments (development, staging, etc.).

---

### Production secrets

You will also need to set secrets for your production Edge Functions. You can do this via the Dashboard or using the CLI.

**Using the Dashboard**:

1. Visit [Edge Function Secrets Management](/dashboard/project/_/settings/functions) page in your Dashboard.
2. Add the Key and Value for your secret and press Save

<Image
  alt="Edge Functions Secrets Management"
  src={{
    light: '/docs/img/edge-functions-secrets--light.jpg',
    dark: '/docs/img/edge-functions-secrets.jpg',
  }}
/>

Note that you can paste multiple secrets at a time.

**Using the CLI**

You can create a `.env` file to help deploy your secrets to production

```bash
# .env
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
```

<Admonition type="caution">

Never check your `.env` files into Git! Instead, add the path to this file to your `.gitignore`.

</Admonition>

You can push all the secrets from the `.env` file to your remote project using `supabase secrets set`. This makes the environment visible in the dashboard as well.

```bash
supabase secrets set --env-file .env
```

Alternatively, this command also allows you to set production secrets individually rather than storing them in a `.env` file.

```bash
supabase secrets set STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
```

To see all the secrets which you have set remotely, you can use `supabase secrets list`

```bash
supabase secrets list
```

<Admonition type="note">

You don't need to re-deploy after setting your secrets. They're available immediately in your
functions.

</Admonition>