Environment state

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Environment state lets a deployment or runbook run save key/value pairs scoped to the combination of project, environment, and optionally a tenant. Later deployments and runbook runs for the same project and environment can then read those values back.

Environment state is useful in scenarios where a value produced during one run needs to be reused later. A common example is provisioning and deprovisioning ephemeral environments. A provisioning runbook might create a Kubernetes namespace or an application URL that later deployments and the deprovisioning runbook depend on. Recording each value as environment state means Octopus stores it once, so every later run reads it directly instead of re-deriving the value.

Each state entry is scoped to project, environment, and optionally a tenant, so state isn’t shared with other projects, environments, or tenants. Setting an entry with a key that already exists for the same project, environment, and tenant overwrites the previous value.

Setting environment state

Set state from a PowerShell or Bash script step using the wrapper functions Octopus provides.

PowerShell

Set-EnvironmentState -Key "namespace" -Value "webstore-pr-482"

Bash

set_environmentstate "namespace" "webstore-pr-482"

Sensitive values

Mark a value as sensitive to store it encrypted at rest and mask it in task logs. Add the -Sensitive switch in PowerShell, or -sensitive as the third argument in Bash.

PowerShell

Set-EnvironmentState -Key "connectionString" -Value "Server=db;Password=s3cret" -Sensitive

Bash

set_environmentstate "connectionString" "Server=db;Password=s3cret" -sensitive

Using environment state in later runs

Octopus makes each state entry available as a variable named Octopus.Environment.State[key] in later deployment or runbook run, where key is the name you set.

Read it from a script:

PowerShell

$namespace = $OctopusParameters["Octopus.Environment.State[namespace]"]

Bash

namespace=$(get_octopusvariable "Octopus.Environment.State[namespace]")

Environment state variables also appear in the variable helper in the process editor, so you can pick them without typing the full name.

Setting an environment URL

An environment URL is a type of environment state, but gets first-class support in Octopus. It is stored like any other environment state, and surfaced as a clickable link in the Octopus Web Portal and available from the API.

Set a URL with the Set-EnvironmentUrl (PowerShell) or set_environmenturl (Bash) function. The first argument is the key that names the URL, and the second is the URL itself.

PowerShell

Set-EnvironmentUrl -Key "Store front" -Url "https://pr-123.example.com"

Bash

set_environmenturl "Store front" "https://pr-123.example.com"

URLs set this way show as clickable links on the Ephemeral Environments in the project, so anyone reviewing the environment can open the running app.

A URL is a special kind of environment state, the key used must be unique across all state entries (including other URLs) for the same project, environment, and tenant. Reusing a key overwrites the value stored under it.

Getting URLs from the API

You can fetch the environment URLs from the API, which is useful for AI agents and scripts that need a link to the running app without reading the task log. Add an optional tenantId query parameter for tenanted runs.

GET /api/spaces/{spaceId}/projects/{projectId}/environments/{environmentId}/urls

The response is an array of name and URL pairs:

[
  { "Name": "Store front", "Url": "https://pr-123.example.com" }
]

This endpoint is also available through the Octopus MCP server, so agents can discover the URL directly.

Availability

Environment state is available to all cloud and self-hosted customers from version 2026.3.10863.

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Page updated on Saturday, August 8, 2026