jdx/mise · error

Environment variable {} not found

Error message

Environment variable {} not found

What it means

In the query path of `mise set KEY [KEY...]` with no --file, mise builds env_with_sources() from the fully merged, decrypted config environment and prints each requested key's value. The first key not present in that map bails 'Environment variable {key} not found'. Unlike the single-key fast path, this loop handles multiple keys and reports per-key misses against the merged view (values may come from any config layer).

Source

Thrown at src/cli/set.rs:297

                    None // Fall back to global config if no local config exists
                }
            }
        } else {
            None
        };

        let filter = self.env_vars.unwrap();

        // Handle global config case first
        if config_path.is_none() {
            let config = Config::get().await?;
            let env_with_sources = config.env_with_sources().await?;
            // env_with_sources already contains decrypted values
            for eva in filter {
                if let Some((value, _source)) = env_with_sources.get(&eva.key) {
                    miseprintln!("{value}");
                } else {
                    bail!("Environment variable {} not found", eva.key);
                }
            }
            return Ok(());
        }

        // Get the config to access directives directly
        let config = MiseToml::from_file(&config_path.unwrap()).unwrap_or_default();

        // For local configs, check directives directly
        let env_entries = config.env_entries()?;
        for eva in filter {
            match env_entries.iter().find_map(|ev| match ev {
                EnvDirective::Val(k, v, _) if k == &eva.key => Some((v.clone(), Some(ev))),
                EnvDirective::Age {
                    key: k, value: v, ..
                } if k == &eva.key => Some((v.clone(), Some(ev))),
                _ => None,
            }) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 6f52dcdf99)

Solutions

1. List defined keys to verify spelling: `mise set`
2. Check which config layers are loaded: `mise config ls`, `mise ls` — and make sure the defining file is trusted
3. Define the missing key: `mise set FOO=bar`, or remove it from your query list

Example fix

# before
mise set API_TOKEN DB_TOKEN   # Environment variable DB_TOKEN not found

# after
mise set                          # confirm which keys exist
mise set API_TOKEN                # query only keys that are defined

# pre-flight each key against the merged env
for key in FOO BAR; do
  mise set 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}' | grep -qx "$key" \
    || { echo "$key missing from mise config env" >&2; exit 2; }
done
mise set FOO BAR

mise_env_has() { mise set 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}' | grep -qx "$1"; }

Parse the failing key from 'Environment variable X not found' and either define it (`mise set X=v`), skip it, or fail fast with context — do not blind-retry.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `mise set FOO BAR` where at least one of FOO/BAR is not defined in any loaded mise config's [env] (global + project + local merged); asking for a key that is only set as a process env var.

Common situations: Batch-querying several config vars in scripts and one is missing or misspelled; the key defined only in an untrusted/ignored config file; encrypted (age) key failing earlier decryption is a different error — this one means the key simply is not there.

Understand the failure class

Background: "environment variable is not set" and "Missing keys in environment" errors: what missing required env var messages mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Environment variable {key} not found
• --stdin requires exactly one environment variable key
• --stdin reads the value from stdin; do not provide a value w
• Setting [{}] is not set
• Unknown setting: {}

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@6f52dcdf99 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5f58a6fbd47967e1. Report an issue: GitHub.