envrc VS direnv

buffer-env: A pure-Elisp version of the direnv utility. Useful to make Emacs aware of Python virtualenvs (which, judging by the questions posted here, is unfortunately still a complication for a lot of people). Similar to (and inspired by) envrc, but doesn't require the direnv program.

Yes, most Nix users employ https://direnv.net or the equivalent for your IDE of choice. Emacs for instance has https://github.com/purcell/envrc which set per-buffer variables.

Also take a look at the envrc package. I think it handles multiple projects better.

I further make my software projects so that when I click a link I go into an environment pre-loaded with their dependencies so dropping in/out of projects is always frictionless. I do this with the reproducibility guarantees of nix, along with glue like nix-direnv and envrc-mode to direnv.

In conjunction with installing direnv on your favorite text editor, it's a very hassle free experience. Everything happens automatically. If you use Emacs, i higly recommend envrc.el

Direnv is installed using the nix-direnv installation instructions under "Via configuration.nix in NixOS". I read some recommendations that envrc.el is a better alternative then direnv.el, and after some testing I have to agree. (envrc-global-mode) is enabled in my config. This works perfectly with a normal emacs instance.

I don't use flake.nix, only shell.nix, though check if the envrc package works any better for you. https://github.com/purcell/envrc

As an alternative to emacs-direnv, I’d recommend the “envrc” package.

btw, my main issue regarding tramp was the fact that I didn't have my environment generated by direnv, via the https://github.com/purcell/envrc package. I use direnv almost exclusively to activate my nix-shell, so I can access the exact software dependencies required by that directory of a project.

I'm not familiar with these tools too but I highly recommend to look at https://github.com/purcell/envrc. If you are not familiar with direnv I suggest to try it with nix-shell/flakes before.

I also made the export diff configurable, motivated by this post: https://github.com/direnv/direnv/pull/1233

Nice.

For years I've been using [direnv](https://direnv.net/) for this, setting environment variables which git picks up. This looks like a more feature complete equivalent, although to be honest I only really need switching of committer email and the SSH key used.

Direnv, for the uninitiated, loads and unloads environment variables when directories are entered and exited. Under every project folder there is a `$PROJ_DIR/.envrc` which contains:

buffer-env: A pure-Elisp version of the direnv utility. Useful to make Emacs aware of Python virtualenvs (which, judging by the questions posted here, is unfortunately still a complication for a lot of people). Similar to (and inspired by) envrc, but doesn't require the direnv program.

You can look at direnv to see this in action as they wrote shell hooks that get loaded into the shell profile and are executed on every prompt. https://direnv.net/

Yes, most Nix users employ https://direnv.net or the equivalent for your IDE of choice. Emacs for instance has https://github.com/purcell/envrc which set per-buffer variables.

The more applications I write, the more I tend to avoid typical config files in favor of using direnv [0] to set environment variables.

[0] https://direnv.net/