Product FAQ
RunEnv product FAQ
Short answers to the questions people ask about RunEnv. Each answer states the supported behavior and the limits that still apply.
Answers
Direct answers, including the limits.
- What is RunEnv?
- RunEnv is an environment-variable and secret-management platform that injects authorized values into a process at runtime and lets AI agents take approved actions without receiving standing credentials. Teams use it to replace ad-hoc .env sharing with a project and environment workspace that has access control and history.
- Does runenv run write a .env file?
- No. For the `runenv run` path, authorized values are injected into the child process environment and are not written to `.env`, `.env.local`, logs, or `.runenv.json`. Download, offline-cache, secret-file, and `*_FILE` workflows intentionally use different storage boundaries and can write to disk.
- Can AI agents read secret values from RunEnv?
- Not through Agent Guard. Agent Guard exposes approved, auditable actions rather than general secret-read access. Coding agents should use Agent Guard or a scoped MCP workflow. Do not place secret values, service tokens, or RunEnv tokens in prompts.
- How is RunEnv different from a .env file?
- A local .env file does not show who changed a value, which environment it belongs to, or whether a teammate is working from an outdated copy. RunEnv keeps configuration in a project and environment model with scoped access, version history, and runtime delivery for the supported `runenv run` path.
- Is there a free RunEnv plan?
- Yes. Personal workspaces are free. Organization plans (Pro Org, Business Org, and Enterprise) add team capacity, longer audit history, and additional operating limits. See the pricing page for the current limits.
- Can RunEnv be self-hosted?
- Yes. RunEnv documents a self-hosting bootstrap and operational readiness path. Review the self-hosting guide for domain, TLS, and Agent OAuth requirements before using Agent Guard in a self-hosted deployment.
- What clients does RunEnv provide?
- RunEnv provides a web dashboard, a CLI (`runenv-cli`), Node.js and Python SDKs, a VS Code extension, a Desktop app, GitHub Actions integration, and an MCP/Agent Guard surface for coding agents.
- What is Agent Guard?
- Agent Guard is the RunEnv workflow for coding agents. It lets an agent preview, request, execute, and roll back approved actions without receiving general secret-read access or connector credentials. The recommended model is to give agents actions, not secrets.
- How does RunEnv compare with Doppler, Infisical, Vault, or AWS Secrets Manager?
- RunEnv is a team environment-variable workspace with runtime injection and Agent Guard. It is not a drop-in replica of Doppler, Infisical, HashiCorp Vault, or AWS Secrets Manager, and it does not migrate live workspaces from those products. Read the comparison pages for what RunEnv does today, and confirm current competitor capabilities on those products’ own sites.