Budibase/budibase · error

User does not have access to environment variables feature.

Error message

User does not have access to environment variables feature.

What it means

Environment variables are a licensed Budibase Pro feature. changeValues loads the tenant's cached license and throws if the license does not include Feature.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES before it will apply any mutation to the variable map. Reads are allowed, but updates/removals are blocked without the entitlement.

Source

Thrown at packages/pro/src/sdk/environmentVariables/environmentVariables.ts:40

  for (let [key, value] of Object.entries(decrypted)) {
    switch (environment) {
      case Environment.DEVELOPMENT:
        output[key] = value.development
        break
      case Environment.PRODUCTION:
      default:
        output[key] = value.production
        break
    }
  }
  return output
}

async function changeValues(cb: (values: VariableMap) => VariableMap) {
  // only block access when updating values, let users fetch
  const license = await licensing.cache.getCachedLicense()
  if (!license.features.includes(Feature.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES)) {
    throw new Error(
      "User does not have access to environment variables feature."
    )
  }
  const doc = await environmentVariables.get()
  doc.variables = cb(doc.variables)
  await environmentVariables.update(doc)
}

export async function update(varName: string, value: EnvironmentVariableValue) {
  const checkName = isValid(varName)
  if (checkName) {
    await changeValues(values => {
      values[varName] = value
      return values
    })
  } else {
    throw new Error("Variable name has characters that are not allowed")
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to a81a902e9a)

Solutions

1. Upgrade the tenant to a license that includes the environment variables feature (Pro/Enterprise) or start a trial.
2. Apply/refresh the license key so licensing.cache picks up the feature, then clear/renew the cached license.
3. If you believe the license includes the feature, force a license re-fetch to fix a stale cache and retry.
4. Restructure the workflow to avoid environment variables if staying on an unlicensed plan.

Example fix

// before
await environmentVariables.update("API_KEY", "secret") // throws on free plan
// after
const license = await licensing.cache.getCachedLicense()
if (license.features.includes(Feature.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES)) {
  await environmentVariables.update("API_KEY", "secret")
}

const license = await licensing.cache.getCachedLicense()
const canUseEnvVars = license.features.includes(Feature.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES)

function hasEnvVarFeature(license: License): boolean {
  return license.features.includes(Feature.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES)
}

try {
  await environmentVariables.update(name, value)
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.includes("environment variables feature")) {
    // show plan-upgrade prompt or disable the feature
  } else throw err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling update() or remove() (both of which call changeValues) when the tenant's cached license from licensing.cache.getCachedLicense() does not list Feature.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES in its features array.

Common situations: Running on the free/open-source plan without a Pro license or trial; a self-hosted activation where the license key was not applied to the tenant; a stale license cache after downgrading the plan.

Related errors

• FEATURE_DISABLED
• Unable to assign roles - license required.
• Unable to un-assign roles - license required.
• Audit logs not available - license required.
• Variable name has characters that are not allowed

AI-assisted analysis of Budibase/budibase@a81a902e9a (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/62761af130b49508. Report an issue: GitHub.