Environments and global variables

An environment is a named set of variables, such as Local, Staging, or Production. When you activate an environment, every {{variable}} in your requests resolves to that environment’s values, so you can point the same requests at a different server without editing them. Global variables hold values that apply no matter which environment is active.

Open the Environments panel

You manage environments and global variables in the Environments panel:

• In VS Code, open the environment picker and choose Manage Environments…, or run Nouto: Environments from the Command Palette. See Activate an environment for the ways to open the picker.
• In the desktop app, click Environments in the left rail.

The panel has three sections: Global Variables, Environments, and Cookie Jar. For cookie jars, see Cookie jars.

Create an environment

1. In the Environments panel, select Environments.
2. Click New environment (the + icon). Nouto adds an environment named New Environment and opens it in the editor.
3. Enter a name in the Name field. To tell environments apart at a glance, pick a Color.
4. Add a row for each variable, with a name and a value.
5. Click Save.

Nouto also saves your changes when you select another environment in the list.

A typical setup defines the same variable names in each environment, with different values:

Variable	Local	Staging	Production
baseUrl	http://localhost:3000	https://staging.example.com	https://api.example.com
apiKey	dev-key	stg-key-123	prod-key-456

Use letters, digits, and underscores in variable names. The editor accepts dots and hyphens, but Nouto doesn’t substitute names that contain them. See Variable names.

Each environment in the list also has buttons to Duplicate, Export, and Delete it.

Activate an environment

Only one environment is active at a time.

In VS Code, switch environments with the environment picker. Open it in any of these ways:

• Click the environment name in the status bar. Nouto shows it while the Nouto sidebar or a Nouto editor tab is visible. To hide it, right-click the status bar and clear Nouto Environment.
• Click Select Environment (the {x} icon) in the API Testing view’s title bar. VS Code shows the title bar icons when you hover over or focus the view.
• Run Nouto: Select Environment from the Command Palette.

Select an environment, or No Environment to send requests without one. The picker marks the active environment Active. Manage Environments… at the bottom of the list opens the Environments panel.

You can also activate an environment in these places:

• In the Environments panel, click Set active (the circle icon) next to the environment. Click it again to deactivate the environment.
• In VS Code, click More actions (...) next to Send in the request editor, and select the environment under Environment.
• In the desktop app, select the environment from the environment dropdown in the top toolbar.

The active environment has a check mark in the Environments panel. In VS Code, the status bar and the API Testing view’s title bar also show its name. The title bar shows No environment when environments exist but none is active.

Use variables in a request

Reference a variable by name inside double braces in the URL, query parameters, headers, body, or auth fields:

GET {{baseUrl}}/users/42
Authorization: Bearer {{apiKey}}

Type {{ in the URL bar, a key-value table, or the body editor to see the available variables. Autocomplete lists variables from the active environment, the current collection and folder, global variables, and the linked .env file. Secret values show as ******.

For the complete list of fields and the placeholders for responses and cookies, see Variable substitution.

Check how variables resolve

When the URL contains a placeholder, an icon after the URL shows whether Nouto can fill it in:

Icon	Meaning
Green check	Every variable in the URL has a value.
Orange warning	At least one variable has no value in the active environment, collection or folder variables, global variables, or .env file.
Blue lightning bolt	The URL uses dynamic, response, or cookie placeholders, such as {{$uuid.v4}} or {{Login.$response.body.id}}, and every other variable has a value.

Hover the icon to list the placeholders by status, for example Resolved: baseUrl | Unresolved: apiKey. The tooltip shows names, not values.

To see the values, click Copy resolved URL (the copy icon at the end of the URL bar) and paste the result. Nouto copies the URL with its query parameters and replaces each placeholder that has a value. Dynamic placeholders generate a new value on every substitution, so the copied value can differ from the one Nouto sends.

Disable a variable

Each variable row has a checkbox. Clear it to stop Nouto from using the variable without deleting it. Nouto treats a disabled variable as if it weren’t defined.

Global variables

Global variables apply to every request, whichever environment is active. Use them for values that are the same everywhere, such as an API version or a tenant ID.

1. In the Environments panel, select Global Variables.
2. Add a row for each variable.
3. Click Save.

If the active environment defines a variable with the same name, the environment’s value wins. When you edit an environment, the Also active bar above its variables lists the global variables, and marks the ones that the environment overrides with env wins.

Which value wins

Nouto looks up each name in this order and uses the first match: the active environment, the request’s folder and collection variables, global variables, then the linked .env file. See Resolution order.

Collections and folders can define their own variables. They apply only to requests saved in that collection. See Collections.

To load variables from a .env file in your project, see Link a .env file.

Secret variables

Click the lock icon on a variable row to mark it as secret. Nouto hides the value in the editor and keeps it out of the environments file. To protect values you share with your team, see Secrets and sensitive data.

Import and export

The Environments panel can move environments between machines:

• In the Environments section, use Export on an environment, or Export all environments in the list header. Use Import environments to load an exported file.
• In the Global Variables section, use Export and Import.

Before you share an exported file, check what it contains. See Share variables with your team.