Custom envrionment variables ​

Often, programs require setting custom environment variables for the execution context. Some examples:

1. Server Configuration: For example, Automatic1111 (StableDiffusion) lets you set the environment variable COMMANDLINE_ARGS to customize how the stable diffusion web ui is configured.
2. API Keys: Many apps do NOT store private secrets and API keys in the code but lets you pass them in through environment variables (example: OPENAI_API_KEY, etc.)

The shell API lets you specify custom environment variables as well (This example uses a fake API key).

{
  "run": [{
    "method": "shell.run",
    "params": {
      "message": "npm start",
      "env": {
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-r2v42ad3f8s3hfslgh3skdhgl3ksdhbh3ks34t23djgFdDa"
      }
    }
  }]
}

1. It runs the npm start command
2. But also passes in the env attribute, which sets the OPENAI_API_KEY variable when executing npm start.