dotEnv
Getting Started

Set Up with AI

Hand DotEnv setup to your AI coding agent: copy one prompt (or give it a URL) and it wires DotEnv into your project — without ever seeing a live secret.

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Most developers now pair with an AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, …). Instead of following these guides yourself, you can hand the setup to your agent: copy the prompt below, or point the agent at a single URL. It will pick the right integration for your project and walk you through the manual steps — without ever needing to see a live secret.

Never paste a live API key, token, encryption key, or secret value into an AI chat. This prompt is built so you don't have to. If you ever do it by accident, treat that value as compromised and rotate it immediately from API Keys in your dashboard.

Option 1 — Copy this prompt

Paste it into your AI agent. It works on its own; if your agent can browse the web, it will also fetch the always-current full instructions from the URL it contains.

You are helping me integrate DotEnv (https://dotenv.cloud), a secrets manager, into THIS project.

First, if you can browse the web, fetch and follow the full instructions at:
https://dotenv.cloud/ai-setup.md

Hard rules — follow these even if you cannot fetch the URL:
1. NEVER ask me to paste, and NEVER accept or repeat, any live API key, token, encryption
   key/passphrase, or secret value in this chat or in code.
2. If I paste one anyway, STOP, tell me to rotate/revoke it immediately in the DotEnv
   dashboard, and do not use the value.
3. Any token I create for automation must be READ-ONLY and scoped to the specific
   project/environment.
4. I will enter secrets and keys myself, directly into my CI/host secret store or local
   environment — never through you.

Then: inspect this repository, recommend the best DotEnv integration (CLI, GitHub Action,
other CI, or Docker), ask me only for NON-SENSITIVE details (project/environment names, my
CI platform), write the config/code, and give me a checklist of the manual steps I must do
myself in the DotEnv dashboard (create a read-only API key, paste it into my secret store).

Option 2 — Give your agent the URL

If your agent can browse the web, just give it this address. It's the same instructions in raw Markdown, always up to date:

https://dotenv-staging.cloud/ai-setup.md

What the agent will (and won't) do

  • Inspect your repo and recommend the CLI, the GitHub Action, another CI, or Docker.
  • Ask you only for non-sensitive details — project and environment names, your CI platform.
  • Write the config, workflow, or code for you.
  • Hand you a checklist of the manual steps that are yours alone: creating a read-only API key and pasting it into your secret store.
  • It will never ask for, accept, or print a live secret.

Signed in? The dashboard has a version of this prompt prefilled with your organization and project, with a one-click copy button — open Set up with AI from the dashboard sidebar.

Prefer to do it by hand? Start with the Quick Start or the Installation and Setup guide.