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Environment Variables

Device Cloud allows you to inject environment variables into your test flows, enabling dynamic configuration and secure credential management.

Setting Environment Variables

Command Line

dcd cloud app.apk flows/ -e API_URL=https://api.example.com -e API_KEY=secret

-e is short for --env.

Multiple Variables

dcd cloud app.apk flows/ \
          -e DB_HOST=localhost \
          -e DB_USER=test \
          -e DB_PASS=password \
          -e ENVIRONMENT=staging

Use Cases

Configuration Management

# Development
dcd cloud app.apk flows/ -e API_URL=https://dev-api.example.com

# Staging
dcd cloud app.apk flows/ -e API_URL=https://staging-api.example.com

# Production
dcd cloud app.apk flows/ -e API_URL=https://api.example.com

Secure Credentials

dcd cloud app.apk flows/ -e USERNAME=${CI_USERNAME} \
          -e PASSWORD=${CI_PASSWORD}

Add --encrypt (or set DCD_ENCRYPT=1) to encrypt the --env values on your machine before they're uploaded. This also encrypts the app binary and your flow files.

iOS: SIMCTL Variable Passthrough

On iOS, variables prefixed with SIMCTL_CHILD_ are passed through by the simulator directly to the app under test, with the prefix stripped. This allows you to inject values that are readable from inside the app via ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment.

dcd cloud app.zip flow.yaml -e SIMCTL_CHILD_API_URL=https://staging-api.example.com

Inside the iOS app, this is accessible as API_URL:

let apiUrl = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["API_URL"]

This is useful for feature flags, environment switching, or any value your app reads at launch without needing to rebuild the binary.

Variables starting with SIMCTL_CHILD_DYLD_ are blocked and never reach the app.

Built-in Variables

DeviceCloud also sets these variables on every run, so a flow can adapt to the device it runs on:

Variable Value
DCD_DEVICE The device and OS version, lowercased and hyphenated — for example pixel-8-api-34, pixel-8-api-34-play on a Google Play device, iphone-16-ios-18 or ipad-pro-12-9-inch-6th-generation-ios-26.
DCD_PLATFORM android or ios.

Passing your own value with -e overrides the built-in one. Visual Testing uses DCD_DEVICE to pick a baseline per device.

Maestro Settings

Variables whose names start with MAESTRO_ are also set in the environment of the Maestro process, as well as being available to your flows. Use them to pass settings that Maestro reads from its environment.

DeviceCloud Overrides

DEVICECLOUD_OVERRIDE_* settings, such as DEVICECLOUD_OVERRIDE_DEVICE_LOCALE, only work in a flow's env: block. Passed with -e, they're treated as ordinary variables and have no effect.

Masking Secrets

Values of variables whose names contain a keyword such as PASSWORD, TOKEN, SECRET or API_KEY are masked in the result log and in the downloadable maestro.log, stdout/stderr and commands.json — see Inspecting Variables for the full list of keywords. Masking has limits:

  • Values passed with --env / -e are only masked if they're 5 or more characters long, so a short value such as a 4-digit PIN stays visible.
  • Literal values assigned in a script, such as password = '...', are masked. Values written directly in a flow's env: block, and values computed at runtime (output.*), are not.
  • HTML and JUnit reports, device logs, screenshots and videos are not scrubbed.

Best Practices

  • Never commit sensitive values
  • Use CI/CD secrets
  • Use UPPERCASE for variable names
  • Use descriptive names
  • Name secret-bearing variables with a keyword like PASSWORD, TOKEN, SECRET, or API_KEY so their values are masked in logs, within the limits above