Environment variable scopes and precedence

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Environment Variables

Paradime organises environment variables into four scopes. They share one grid under Settings > Environment Variables, where each variable shows the environments it is set in:

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Default

Admin-managed variables inherited by every user, every Bolt schedule, and every agent session in the workspace. Use Default for values shared across the whole workspace, such as a region, a default profile path, or the credentials for a dbt™ Mesh producer, instead of repeating the same value in every environment.

• Default values are overlaid into Bolt schedule runs, the Code IDE, and agent sessions. A value set for a more specific environment wins on a name collision (see Precedence Hierarchy).
• After a Default variable is added, updated, renamed, or removed, Paradime automatically redeploys your Bolt schedules so running schedules pick up the change.
• When a Default variable is added, updated, renamed, or removed, or copied in from another workspace, Paradime also rewrites every developer’s Code IDE environment files. Terminals opened afterwards see the new value.

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Bolt

Variables available to every Bolt schedule that runs in that Bolt environment. They are layered on top of Default variables, and a per-schedule override (UI or YAML) can override them in turn.

• Scoped to Bolt schedules (production jobs) only. Not visible in the Code IDE.
• Per-schedule overrides take precedence. Set them in the schedule’s UI override column, or in YAML using env_overrides. See the full ordering in Precedence Hierarchy.

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Code IDE

Per-user variables for the Code IDE when running dbt™, Python, and CLI commands. Each user manages their own set, visible only inside their own Code IDE session.

• Scoped to the Code IDE development environment only. They do not affect Bolt schedules or the Agent.
• Layered on top of Default variables. On a name collision, the user’s Code IDE value wins for that user’s session.

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Agent

Variables used by DinoAI agents when they execute dbt™, Python, and CLI commands during agent sessions.

• Agent sessions get the Default variables, overlaid by the variables of the Agent environment the agent runs in. On a name collision, the Agent environment’s value wins.
• Bolt and Code IDE variables are not visible to agents.

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Adding Variables

The flow is the same for all four scopes:

1. From any page in the Paradime application, open Settings.
2. Select Environment Variables.
3. Click Add variable.
4. Enter the Key, then enter a value in the box of each environment that needs it: Default, Code IDE, a Bolt environment, or an Agent environment. Leave a box empty to inherit the Default value.
5. Click Save.

Validation rules

• Key must match ^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$ (letters, digits and underscores; cannot start with a digit).
• Value cannot contain whitespace.

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Precedence Hierarchy

When the same variable name is set in more than one scope, the most specific scope wins. The diagram shows how each runtime context resolves its effective environment: Higher in the stack = higher precedence. The bottom layer is overlaid first; each layer above can override matching keys from the layers below it. Merge rules in plain English

• Bolt schedule runs: Default is overlaid first, then the Bolt environment’s values override matching keys, then Schedule-level overrides (set per schedule in the UI, or in YAML via env_overrides) override everything else.
• Code IDE: Default is overlaid first, then the user’s Code IDE values override matching keys. Bolt values and Schedule-level overrides do not apply in the IDE.
• Agent: Default is overlaid first, then the Agent environment’s values override matching keys. Bolt and Code IDE values are not visible to agents.