Severity: Info | Category: Kubernetes

Description

Environment variable is defined in .env but never referenced in Kubernetes manifests.

Examples

.env.example

DATABASE_URL=postgres://localhost
API_KEY=secret
LOCAL_DEV_MODE=true  # ← Only used locally

Kubernetes manifest

env:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: db-secret
        key: url
  - name: API_KEY
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: api-secret
        key: key
# LOCAL_DEV_MODE is not referenced

Detection

$ envcheck k8s-sync k8s/**/*.yaml --env .env.example

.env.example: W006: Key in .env but unused in K8s: LOCAL_DEV_MODE

When This Is OK

Unused variables are sometimes intentional:

  • Local development settings
  • Feature flags for specific environments
  • Documentation purposes

Configuration

# .envcheckrc.yaml
rules:
  W006:
    severity: info  # Downgrade from warning
    ignore_patterns:
      - "*_LOCAL"
      - "DEV_*"
      - "TEST_*"

See Also