$env variable is empty

[barn4k]

Describe the problem/error/question

According to the docs, n8n has a meta variable $env that should output all ENVs that have been configured on the instance. But it is empty in both Edit Fields Node or Code node.

Please share your workflow

Share the output returned by the last node

Information on your n8n setup

• n8n version: 1.27.3, 1.34.2
• Database (default: SQLite): Postgres
• n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): main
• Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): Docker
• Operating system: Docker

[jan]

The $env variable does not return all set environment variables via an object, rather it allows you to access specific ones. So if you for example want to access the environment variable “MY_VAR” you can do that via:

{{ $env.MY_VAR }}

[barn4k]

That was not obvious

And I suppose it won’t return the default values? E.g. $env.N8N_HOST if I didn’t set it

[jan]

Yes, we can for sure make that clearer

That is correct. It returns only data that is actually set as an environment variable. Under the hood, all it does is access the data from process.env.