nself env

nself env — ɳSelf documentation.

Multi-environment management: switch, list, diff, copy.

Synopsis

nself env <subcommand> [flags] [args]

Description

nself env manages multiple environments (dev, staging, prod) on a single project. Each environment gets its own Docker project name, network, volume namespace, and port range, so they can coexist on one host without conflicts.

env use <name> switches the active environment. After switching, run nself build so the generated docker-compose.yml and nginx config reflect the new environment’s .env.<name> cascade. env list shows all environments with the active one marked. env show prints the resolved config for the current environment with secrets redacted. env diff a b compares two environments side-by-side. env copy from to scaffolds a new environment from an existing one as the starting template.

The active environment is stored in a project-local marker (.env.active or equivalent) so subsequent commands like nself start, nself logs, and nself db all target the right stack.

Subcommands

Name	Description
`use <env>`	Switch active environment
`list`	List available environments
`show`	Show current environment config (secrets redacted)
`diff <env-a> <env-b>`	Compare two environment configs side-by-side
`copy <from> <to>`	Scaffold a new environment from an existing one
`target`	Manage the multi-server control-plane inventory (`list`, `add`, `remove`, `probe`, `migrate`)

Flags

Most env subcommands take no flags beyond positional arguments. env target manages .nself/control-plane.yaml (server inventory for multi-environment deploys) — use --help on its subcommands to confirm flags.

Examples

# See which environments exist
nself env list

# Switch to staging and rebuild
nself env use staging
nself build

# Show the resolved config for the current environment
nself env show

# Compare dev and prod env configs
nself env diff dev prod

# Scaffold a new "qa" environment from staging
nself env copy staging qa
nself env use qa