Quick Start

Prerequisites

Before using bwenv, make sure you have:

Bitwarden CLI installed and configured
direnv installed and set up in your shell
jq installed (for JSON processing)

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

make install

This command will:

Copy helper scripts to ~/.config/direnv/lib
Install the bwenv CLI to ~/.local/bin (Unix/macOS) or %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin (Windows)
Make everything executable

Setup PATH (Linux/macOS)

# Automatic setup (recommended)
make setup-path

# Or add manually to your shell config (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.)
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Then restart your terminal or run:

source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

First Use

1. Test Your Installation

bwenv test

This will verify:

All dependencies are installed
Bitwarden CLI is working
direnv is properly configured

2. Initialize Secrets for Your Project

Navigate to your project directory and run:

bwenv init

This will:

Prompt you for a Bitwarden folder name
Unlock your Bitwarden vault (if needed)
Generate a .envrc file with your secrets
Show you the next steps

3. Activate Environment Variables

direnv allow

Your secrets are now loaded as environment variables! Test with:

echo $YOUR_SECRET_VARIABLE

Alternative: Interactive Mode

If you prefer to select from a list of folders:

bwenv interactive

This will display all your Bitwarden folders and let you pick by number.

Debug Options

Need to troubleshoot? Use debug modes:

# Show processing steps only (default)
bwenv init

# Show steps and actual secret values
bwenv --debug=2 init

# Silent mode
bwenv --quiet init