Is it possible to set an OS environment variable and use it in a different task?

[ezerw]

Hi, I'm trying to run some commands in a task that should set some environment variables and then use those in another task. e.g

tasks:
  task_a:
      cmds:
          - sh: export TESTING=something
  task_b:
      cmds:
          - sh: `command that assumes $TESTING is set`

But it doesn't seem to set it. I'm assuming tasks runs in a different subshells? any workaround?
Basically its for authenticate with AWS, first task will do the login and the second needs to see AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY and AWS_SESSION_TOKEN are available

[kerma]

Environment handling is a bit of a weak point of task. However there are various ways how to achieve what you're after.

1. Login in the same shell

task_b:
  cmds:
    - |
      test ! -z "$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID" && login.sh
      real_command

2. Use https://github.com/99designs/aws-vault (which is probably what you should do)

There is some background reading on this topic in various issues, like

• How to handle shell and shell functions #277
• Explicit environment variable is not honoured when calling another task #593
• Dynamic variable execution environment does not inherit globally set environment variables #630

[ezerw]

Thanks!