Environment variables

Variables you set for your program, in [env] of kargo.toml or in .env files, are not listed here. They are described in Environment variables. This page lists the variables Kargo itself reads.

Variables Kargo reads

Variable	Purpose
KARGO_HOME	Where Kargo keeps its cache, toolchains and bin/ (default ~/.kargo)
KARGO_RELEASES_URL	Where kargo self update, install.sh and install.ps1 look for releases (default https://github.com/enekocm7/kargo/releases): a mirror with the same layout, or a directory with file://
KARGO_NO_UPDATE_CHECK	Any non-empty value stops kargo --version from looking for a newer release and mentioning it
KARGO_INSTALL_ROOT	Same as --root of kargo install and kargo uninstall: install below <root>/bin and <root>/install instead of $KARGO_HOME
KARGO_TARGET_DIR	Build output directory (default target/ next to the project’s or workspace’s kargo.toml)
KARGO_OFFLINE	Same as --offline
KARGO_VENDORED	Same as --vendored: resolve dependencies only from the repository kargo vendor wrote
KARGO_REQUIRE_CHECKSUMS	Same as --require-checksums: fail on a download whose repository publishes no checksum for it (see kargo.lock)
HTTPS_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, ALL_PROXY, NO_PROXY	The proxy for Kargo’s downloads, and the hosts that bypass it (lowercase forms too). [http] proxy in config.toml overrides them; see Offline and corporate builds
KARGO_SYSTEM_GRADLE	Same as --system-gradle: Android builds use the gradle on PATH
KARGO_AUTO_INSTALL	0 stops commands from downloading the toolchains they need (a JDK when none is on JAVA_HOME or PATH, a pinned JDK or GraalVM, Kotlin/Native, Gradle, the language servers); they fail with the kargo toolchain install command to run instead. 1 turns installs on over [toolchain] auto-install = false in config.toml. See Managing JDKs
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH	The time in seconds since 1970 that the build-config generator writes as BUILD_TIME when build-time = true, instead of the current time, so that builds can be reproducible
KARGO_COMPILER_JVM_OPTS	Extra JVM options for the Kotlin compiler daemon (or compiler process), e.g. -Xmx4g
KARGO_INCREMENTAL	false (or 0, no, off) recompiles whole targets instead of only the files a change affects (incremental compilation)
KARGO_DAEMON	false (or 0, no, off) runs the Kotlin compiler as a separate process on every build instead of in the compiler daemon
KARGO_NATIVE_CACHE	false (or 0, no, off) compiles debug Kotlin/Native builds without the precompiled standard library cache
KONAN_DATA_DIR	Kotlin/Native dependency cache (default ~/.kargo/toolchains/konan)
JAVA_HOME	JDK to use when [toolchain] jdk is system
GRAALVM_HOME	GraalVM to use when [toolchain] graalvm is system (the default): for kargo package --format native-image and kargo run --native-agent. Without it, a JAVA_HOME or PATH that has native-image
ANDROID_HOME, ANDROID_SDK_ROOT	Android SDK location
BROWSER	Browser that kargo doc --open and kargo run --open start (default: the system’s default browser)
KARGO_BROWSER	Browser that runs Wasm and JS browser tests: the path of an executable, or a command on PATH. Default: Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Brave or Firefox, whichever Kargo finds first
KARGO_BROWSER_ARGS	Extra arguments for that browser, separated by spaces, e.g. --no-sandbox for Chrome in a container
KARGO_BROWSER_TIMEOUT	Seconds a browser running Wasm or JS tests may stay silent before they count as hung (default 120)
Names in username-env / password-env	Repository credentials, for downloads and for kargo publish
KARGO_MAVEN_LOCAL	The local Maven repository that kargo publish --local writes and "maven-local" in [repositories] reads (default ~/.m2/repository)
KARGO_MAVEN_CENTRAL_USERNAME, KARGO_MAVEN_CENTRAL_PASSWORD	The two parts of a Central Portal user token, for publishing to Maven Central
KARGO_MAVEN_CENTRAL_URL	The Central Portal to publish to (default https://central.sonatype.com)
KARGO_MAVEN_SEARCH_URL	The Maven Central search API that kargo lsp completes coordinates from (default https://search.maven.org/solrsearch/select)
KARGO_SIGNING_KEY	An ASCII-armored secret key (gpg --export-secret-keys --armor <id>), as is or base64-encoded, that kargo publish signs with. Without it, GnuPG’s own keyring is used
KARGO_SIGNING_KEY_ID	The key to sign with (gpg --local-user); default: GnuPG’s default key
KARGO_SIGNING_KEY_PASSPHRASE	The signing key’s passphrase
KARGO_GPG	The gpg executable (default: gpg on PATH)
COMPLETE	Set by the kargo completions scripts when they ask Kargo for candidates; don’t set it yourself

Variables Kargo sets

For tasks, hook plugins and kargo-* subcommands:

Variable	Value
KARGO_MANIFEST_DIR	The project root (the workspace root for a [workspace.tasks] task run at the root)
KARGO_WORKSPACE_DIR	The workspace root, in a workspace
KARGO_PKG_NAME, KARGO_PKG_VERSION, KARGO_PKG_GROUP	From [package]
KARGO_PROFILE	The profile: dev, release or a custom profile’s name (--profile staging)
KARGO_TARGET_DIR	The output directory
KARGO_KOTLIN_VERSION	From [kotlin]
KARGO_TASK	The running task’s name (tasks only)
KARGO_GEN_DIR	The output directory of a [[generate]] step, target/generated/<profile>/<name>/ (generator steps only)
KARGO_GEN_ROOT, KARGO_GEN_NAME, KARGO_GEN_KIND	The directory that holds the output of every step, the step’s name, and its kind: sources, test-sources or resources (generator steps only)
KARGO_HOOK	The hook being run (hooks only)
KARGO_BUILD_LOCK	The build-directory lock this Kargo process holds (hooks only); a kargo command the hook runs on the same project uses that lock instead of waiting for it
KARGO_CLASSPATH, KARGO_JVM_JAR	After a JVM build
KARGO_PACKAGE	After kargo package: the fat jar, or a library’s jar; with -t android, the first App Bundle (or AAR for a library)
KARGO_TEST_RESULT	After tests