env-alias-audit

What This Skill Does

The env-alias-audit skill is a robust diagnostic tool designed to prevent runtime configuration failures by validating environment variable aliases. In complex containerized or cloud-native applications, it is common to have multiple versions of an environment key (e.g., DB_URL, DATABASE_URL, and DB_CONNECTION). This skill parses your .env files and reconciles these alias groups against a canonical definition. It performs deep analysis to flag missing mandatory configurations, identify dangerous value conflicts (where two aliases in the same group hold different values), and detect instances where only aliases are defined while the canonical key is missing. By catching these issues pre-deployment, the skill significantly reduces "configuration drift" and unexpected environment crashes.

Installation

To install this skill, use the ClawHub CLI tool integrated into your OpenClaw environment: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/daniellummis/env-alias-audit Ensure you have the necessary read permissions for your project directory, as the skill needs to scan .env files for analysis.

Use Cases

• CI/CD Pipelines: Integrate this as a pre-deployment step to ensure production environment variables are consistent across legacy and new naming conventions.
• Refactoring Projects: When migrating legacy systems to modern infrastructure, use this tool to map old aliases to new canonical keys without breaking legacy integrations.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Enforce standard naming conventions across diverse microservices by requiring specific groups to resolve successfully before the application starts.
• Troubleshooting: Use AUDIT_MODE=report to quickly visualize where environment variable definitions have diverged across different staging environments.

Example Prompts

1. "Audit my current .env file for conflicting alias values in the DATABASE_URL and STRIPE_API_KEY groups and report the findings."
2. "Run a strict env alias check using my custom spec file at ./config/env-spec.txt and block the deployment if anything is missing."
3. "Analyze the production environment file .env.production to see if any canonical keys have drifted from their alias values."

Tips & Limitations

• Strict vs. Report Mode: Use strict mode for automated pipeline gates, but leverage report mode during local development to gain insight without failing your build process.
• Custom Specs: Always define your alias mappings in a separate, version-controlled file (ALIAS_SPEC_FILE) to ensure consistency across team members.
• Security: Be mindful that this skill reads your .env files. Ensure your local environment is secure, and avoid uploading these files to shared platforms.
• Limitation: The skill does not automatically fix conflicts; it identifies them for manual remediation to ensure you retain control over your infrastructure credentials.