We used to use /etc/environment to set system-wide environment variables on Mountain Lion. However, it seems this file is no longer read. Ideally the solution should apply to all users, and we need it to work with ssh console sessions. So we need this to work ssh user@mavericks-machine 'echo $MY_ENV_VAR' So far we've tried: - /etc/launchd.conf Works for all users, but only applies to 'windowed' applications, i.e. works in Terminal, but not in an ssh session. - ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile etc. Only applies to shells Any suggestions?

I want to run a program in Terminal and set its environment variables. According to my research one can do this using: VARIABLE="value" VARIABLE2="value2" run_program Now I'd like to set a variety of variables using a configuration file. Indeed, I could inject variables into the active shell using: . program_variables.config I then can use echo $VARIABLE in the terminal. Anyway, when I now run . program_variables.config run_program I cannot access the variables within the program. I also tried separating the two parts with ; and &&. After thinking about what's happening there I had the following ideas: cat program_variables.config | xargs run_program cat program_variables.config | tr -d '\n' run_program and a few more. I didn't write the called program myself so I cannot change the behavior how variables are read. Any ideas how I output the file as if I would have written its content in the shell myself?

Running zsh on macOS Ventura → With sudo --preserve-env -s the environment variable ZDOTDIR is not preserved but all the others are. → With sudo --preserve-env=ZDOTDIR -s the variable ZDOTDIR is preserved but not the other variables. Why is ZDOTDIR not preserved in the first case ?

There are different solutions regarding the definition of environment variables that are stored in the launchd process, namely over at [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/135688/setting-environment-variables-in-os-x) and [Superuser](https://superuser.com/questions/476752/setting-environment-variables-in-os-x-for-gui-applications) . How do these solutions differ?

When I use the "run shell script" in automator, and do, for example

say $PATH

it then tells me the PATH. But the path is incomplete. Some items I have in $PATH when using the terminal (zsh) are missing. How can I fix this, so I have the same $PATH variable everywhere?

I am on an M3 Pro, MacOS 14.2. When I try echo $MACHTYPE (in a default -zsh shell) the output is x86_64, whereas uname -mp returns arm64 arm. Zsh docs say that MACHTYPE should be "the machine type (microprocessor class or machine model), as determined at compile time." Why is my compile time machine type set to x86_64? I am not running Terminal with Rosetta. Perhaps a more robust question, what is the intended usage of the MACHTYPE shell parameter on ARM-based MacOS?

I'm a software developer and I often have to switch between different projects, each with its own environment setup. Some actions I have to do each time include: - creating ssh tunnels - connecting database inspectors - applying git stashes with local dev connection strings - starting local servers - opening specific IDE on the right project - recovering Postman saved requests for the specific project - set env variables - ... Those are all very basic tasks, but I have to do them every time with great time waste and chances to mess up. It would be really cool to have something like: - an "application" or "desktop icon" named after the project - click on it and it will open a dedicated workspace with everything ready to start developing - keep the local environment isolated Is there something like this I can setup on my Mac? Thanks

On a Mac running macOS 13.5, $TMPDIR is not set in a new shell. This is a multi-user machine, and it is unset for all users that are sued to, causing multiple issues since libraries may default to /tmp, which is not writable by everyone. The Mac with the problem is accessed via SSH through one account, and when I change to another account using:

sudo su - otheruser

I get an environment without TMPDIR. Now, I understand that sudo su discards environment variables; this is fine! I don't want the sudoing user's temporary directory, but the one of the user being accessed. How can I accomplish that? Note that it works when I SSH into the target user directly.

I have always difficulties setting the Environment variables in OS X like JAVA_HOME, M2_HOME or PATH. How to set these on OS X Mavericks? I did some research but the answers I've found didn't really help me yet: 1. export JAVA_HOME=/... (But it seems that the changes are temporary, just for one terminal session.) 2. setenv JAVA_HOME=/... (But command not found.) 3. Open .profile and write the variables inside to make the changes permanent- (.profile does not exist). 4. Open .bash_profile and write the variables inside to make the changes permanent- (.bash_profile does not exist). 5. vi ~/.bash_profile (Quite a challenge for somebody who doesn't know vi.) 6. Creating your own enrivonment.plist file. Can somebody please walk me through the steps to get that to work on OS X Mavericks, assuming *no* Unix knowhow?

I'm looking for a way to set the PATH environment variable for **all** applications that **I** (and only I) run under macOS (version 14 / Sonoma at the time of writing.) That sounds like it *ought* to be straightforward, but it seems not to be, and I haven't found any current, working instructions on how to do it. To be clear, here are three things that I **do** know how to do, that there are (some) decent instructions out there for, and that are **not** what I'm asking about now: 1. Set the environment variables for a shell (e.g. zsh, bash, etc) and by extension applications that are launched *from* that shell. All the normal UNIX techniques and configuration files work fine for this. If I set a variable in my ~/.zshrc and then start any app I want (GUI or not) from within zsh, it works as expected. 2. Set an environment variable which is **not** PATH for apps *not* launched from a shell. There are several ways of doing that using launchctl setenv, and they're dirty and hackish, but they work. I've written up one way of doing that at Add system-wide environment-variables in MacOS Ventura . However, macOS appears to have special-case handling for PATH that's different from other environment variables. 3. Change the PATH variable for **all** users: I can add entries to /etc/paths or /etc/paths.d/ but then those affect everybody, which is actively unhelpful on a multi-user system, especially since I want to include some directories that other users can't even access. So, those out of the way, does anyone know of a command, configuration file, settings option, magic incantation, etc. that will let me set the PATH variable given to any process I launch, no matter how I launch it (e.g as a login item, from Finder, from the dock, whatever) that doesn't involve making a system-wide change and messing up other users?

(EDIT OF 06/02/2023 : Previous title was *Variables set using launchctl setenv aren't part of environment in Mac OS 12* ) I'm a daily Linux user and decided to try Mac recently. I have a Macbook pro 13" early 2015 that currently run macOS Monterey (12.6.3). I'm struggling since a few day to setup SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable for my whole session I relied on the following plist file in $HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/:

Label
	com.mooltipass.mc-agent

	RunAtLoad
	

	StandardOutPath
	/tmp/mc-agent.log
	StandardErrorPath
	/tmp/mc-agent.err
	Debug
	

	ProgramArguments
	
		/opt/local/bin/mc-agent
		-n
		--address=/tmp/moolticute-ssh-agent.sock
	
	EnvironmentVariables
	
		AUTH_SSH_SOCK
		/tmp/moolticute-ssh-agent.sock
		TOTO
		test

I then activate the agent using launchctl bootstrap gui/501/com.moolticute.mc-agent (or something similar, i don't remember well) and restart my session. The binary mc-agent is running as expected but: - when i check SSH_AUTH_SOCK variable, it still contains the default value, not the one superseeded by my script. - when i run virt-manager (which make use of this variable) from the Launchpad, it obviously doesn't have the correct value. - when i run launchctl getenv SSH_AUTH_SOCK the variable value is the one expected. did i missed something ? **06/02/2023 : EDIT FOR CLARIFICATIONS** After the first answer, which is correct but doesn't fullfill my needs, i noticed that my question wasn't clear enought. At the end, i want to mimic the behaviour of regular ssh-agent. On raw MacOS installation, ssh-agent is launched using a plist file at GUI session launch, out of any shell. I want my agent to be launched at GUI session startup and the environment variable set for the whole session, in or out the shell. The goal is, when i launch virt-manager (which is a graphical app) directly from the finder or launchpad, no shell is spawned to launch it, virt-manager won't inherit the variable set in my .zshenv or .bashrc, right ? This is the same i guess for any IDE with git connectivity. For example, in Linux, this would be achieved by tweaking Xsession for your favourite DM or by using legacy startup mode for xsession and setting a .xinitrd or .Xsession. Then, every variable set this way will be inherit by any applications launched from the window manager as it's part of its environment. I have read this week end several methods to do this with launchctl/ launchd but it seems that all of them stopped working on later MacOS versions...

I am using zsh and I wanted to modify the $PATH variable permanently. I can't seem to find either

.zshrc

or

.zsh_profile

on my computer -- I tried searching in Finder with enabled hidden files. I tried creating

.zshrc

in my home folder. Here is the full text of what I pasted there.

/Users/dnes/Library/Python/3.9/bin

I then made this file executable. Here is what I now see when opening Terminal:

Last login: Wed Sep 27 20:30:43 on ttys000
/Users/dnes/.zshrc:1: permission denied: /Users/dnes/Library/Python/3.9/bin
dnes@MacBook-Air-Denis ~ %

I also tried

$ZDOTDIR

to see where the file is. But the command only produced a blank line. Meanwhile

$PATH

produces a normal string of few paths divided by

:

as one normally expects. I know that for one Terminal session I can use

$PATH

. How do I nowadays modify my $PATH variable permanently?

I need to set an env var for an app on MacOs. This is an app that I want to run on startup (currently via Login Items). I can set the env var as a LaunchAgent plist file with the RunAtLoad key set and it will set the env var correctly but on reboot the app starts before this env var is set. If I close the app and restart it, it accepts the env variable. I have also created a .zshenv file and set it there but have the same issue. How can I set this env var to be effective for the OS or user session before the app is started via login items?

I'm using launchd to set an env var at startup using launchctl setenv. The script works fine when the variable is hardcoded in it, but unfortunately I need to get this variable dynamically at startup from a script. The reason I'm trying to use launchd for this (rather than using .zshrc to run export MYVAR=...) is that the script will prompt me for a password before returning the desired value, and I don't want to enter the password every single time I open a shell. If I were using Linux, I could simply use .zprofile for this, which is only sourced for login shells, which only happens at system login. But this is MacOS: **every** shell is a login shell, and so every shell sources .zprofile together with the rest of files. Hence my attempt at doing this in launchd. So my question is: Is there any way for launchd to "read" the output from an interactive shell script, and then use that output as input for the launchctl setenv command?

I installed MySQL on my Mac, and now I would like to add it to my $PATH variable. I want to be able to type mysql anywhere. I tried adding the following to my .profile file: export PATH=${PATH}/usr/local/mysql/bin/ I have restarted my Terminal but it does not do the trick. It still says: -bash: mysql: command not found. How can I add this properly to my $PATH? I am using OS X Yosemite.

I have a variable set exactly like this: export VARIABLE_NAME=VARIABLE_VALUE I thought it would be in ~/.zshrc or bash_profile but it is seen in none of those. I am now struggling to understand where its getting set and I want to reset it up. Can someone suggest easy way to do so? I am on MacOS I am using zsh shell. I know the command called unset VARIABLE_NAME. However I am looking into finding root cause and removing the variable from the first place where its been set. Variable name is JWT_SECRET **Update:** I tried running grep JWT_SECRET {~/.z,/etc/z}{shenv,profile,shrc,login} as [proposed by @nohillside](https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/460904) I have configured my zsh to use ohmyzsh. Here's how output looks like: When I do: echo $SHELL $ZSH_VERSION $BASH_VERSION I get: /bin/zsh 5.9 Here's what I have in my ~/.zshrc:

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
DISABLE_AUTO_TITLE="true"
PS1="%1d %& # "
export ZSH="$HOME/.oh-my-zsh"
ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"
ENABLE_CORRECTION="true"
plugins=(git)
source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh
export SU_PASSWORD=
export SU_USERNAME=
export PATH="/Users//bin:$PATH"

In macOS Sierra 10.12.x, what is the modern way to add a directory to the PATH environment variable that can work across shells or specifically work with *zsh* shell (I switched from the default bash to zsh ). I have seen some Questions and Answers such as [this one](https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/12629/17907) that are bash-specific. And I have seen some such as [this one](https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/106355/17907) about launchd but it seems I've read launchd is not the right right in later versions of macOS (not sure). I could find no specific references for Sierra, so I am posting now. I am trying to install Maven with instructions saying: >Add the bin directory of the created directory apache-maven-3.3.9 to the PATH environment variable

I installed a program to try it out, and decided I didn't like it so I moved the app to the trash. Today, in my shell, I noticed that there are a couple of PROGRAMNAME_BLAHBLAH environmental variables set. I'd like to remove those, too. I don't even have a .bashrc or .bash_login, so I grepped every file I could think of (~/.* ~/Library/* /Library/* /etc/*). The only place these variables turned up was a file ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, so I removed it from there (Xcode can edit binary plists), but new shells still have these variables set. What other files does Mac OS X 10.7's terminal/bash run on startup? How might these variables get set? Or is it something funny like "need to reboot after editing environment.plist"?

**EDIT in 2023**: I have macOS 13.2 Ventura and vscode 1.74.3 installed now, and this problem isn't reproducing the same way anymore. It looks like this is due to a [relatively new](https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_36#_launch-terminals-with-clean-environments) vscode feature, [Terminal Environment inheritance](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/terminal/advanced#_environment-inheritance) which is running the login shell: > When VS Code is opened, it launches a login shell environment in order to source a shell environment. This is done because developer tools are often added to the $PATH in a shell launch script like ~/.bash_profile. This doesn't change the question, about a general fix without every app needing to add this custom workaround. --- I have the option "Reopen windows when logging back in" set, which on my 11.6 macbook will reopen apps like vscode and iTerm2 after I restart. I want the reopened windows to have the expected environment variables set. Most apps will reopen with no problem, but in vscode I'll get the error The terminal process failed to launch: Path to shell executable "pwsh" does not exist. As far as I can tell, the problem is related to the system procedure for creating PATH [not running for windows reopened at login](https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/106814/325877) . By launching bash I can see the process PATH environment variable is something like /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin which explains the "pwsh" does not exist error... (because pwsh is in /usr/local/bin/ which normally is in my PATH but is missing here.) I could solve the immediate problem by specifying the full path to my shell executable in my vscode config, but other tools in /etc/paths wouldn't be included in PATH automatically either. Is there some macOS setting I can change so that reopened windows have the right environment variables? Or, I see that when iTerm2 reopens it starts my pwsh shell and somehow has the correct PATH -- could the vscode app copy the startup logic from iTerm2 to start with the right environment variables?

Now that I've upgraded to Catalina and I am using the new ZSH shell, I've noticed that ~/.bash_profile has been replaced with ~/.zprofile and since installing iTerm2 shell integration, it added a ~/.zshrc file. Looking at the ZSH documentation on Startup/Shutdown Files , there are a number of files (located in the home directory $HOME or ~/): * .zprofile (login shell) * .zshenv (environment variables) * .zshrc (interactive shell) * .zlogin (login shell) * .zlogout (when the shell exits) What is also confusing is that ~/.zprofile and ~/.zlogin are both for login shells, so, things can get confusing as to what to put where. **What startup/shutdown files should be used when setting up the ZSH shell environment and how/what should they be configured?**