Set environment variables

Securely manage information in your Maestro tests by setting them as environment variables. Learn how to pass and use them in your flow files.

When running your Maestro tests on BrowserStack App Automate, you can securely pass information like usernames, passwords, etc., as environment variables. This method ensures that your sensitive information is not hard-coded in your test scripts.

Key features of environment variables

• Set during build creation: Environment variables are defined only when you create a build.
• Immutable after build starts: Once a build is running, its environment variables are locked and cannot be updated or removed.
  • To change any variables, you must start an entirely new build.
• Unrestricted naming and values: You can use any name or value for your variables, as there are no restrictions on length, allowed characters, or reserved words.

Set environment variables

To set environment variables, use the setEnvVariables capability in your builds REST API request. This capability accepts a JSON object of key-value pairs.

Here’s an example of a curl request to the App Automate API that sets USERNAME and PASSWORD environment variables:

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/maestro/v2/android/build" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "app": "bs://<app_id>",
  "testSuite": "bs://<test_suite_id>",
  "networkLogs": "true",
  "deviceLogs": "true",
  "devices": ["<your_device>"],
  "setEnvVariables": {
    "USERNAME": "abcxyz",
    "PASSWORD": "password123"
  }
}'

curl -u "YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" \
-X POST "https://api-cloud.browserstack.com/app-automate/maestro/v2/ios/build" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "app": "bs://<app_id>",
  "testSuite": "bs://<test_suite_id>",
  "networkLogs": "true",
  "deviceLogs": "true",
  "devices": ["<your_device>"],
  "setEnvVariables": {
    "USERNAME": "abcxyz",
    "PASSWORD": "password123"
  }
}'

In the above example, the setEnvVariables object contains two key-value pairs. USERNAME is set to abcxyz and PASSWORD is set to password123.

Use environment variables in your test scripts

After you’ve set the environment variables in your API request, you can access them in your Maestro flow files using the ${VARIABLE_NAME} syntax.

Here is an example of a Maestro flow file (flowfile.yml) that uses the USERNAME and PASSWORD variables set in the previous step:

In this flow, Maestro replaces ${USERNAME} and ${PASSWORD} with the values you provided in the setEnvVariables capability of your API call. This allows you to keep your sensitive information out of your test scripts, making them more secure and easier to manage.