development · Command reference

`qzx traceEnvVar`

What it does

Traces usage of an environment variable across code files, .env, and .env.example templates

Canonical command: traceEnvVar

Accepted aliases: None

Case-sensitive: no

Included in the published package

Available in PyPI 0.2.2.0.2. This page documents the 0.2.2.0.2 alpha development checkout.

Safety and effects

Read-only under the current classification

No documented dry-run parameter

No native program invocation in the current classification

No documented network use

No inherent elevation requirement

This safety classification was reviewed against implementation digest sha256:224a25f49c4064b99ab1666b1623fe72fe3a8e380b5ca90eba8a2ebed764a3ac on 2026-07-24.

Exact syntax

qzx traceEnvVar <var_name> [project_path] [recursive] --json

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
var_name	str	Yes	Not declared	Name of the environment variable to search for (e.g. DATABASE_URL, PORT)
project_path	str	No	"."	Path to the project root directory (defaults to current directory)
recursive	bool	No	true	Whether to search directories recursively (defaults to True)

Input examples

qzx traceEnvVar "PORT"

Trace usage of the PORT environment variable in the current directory

qzx traceEnvVar "STRIPE_API_KEY" "C:/my-project"

Trace usage of STRIPE_API_KEY in C:/my-project

For the complete structured payload, add --json: qzx traceEnvVar <var_name> [project_path] [recursive] --json

Representative output example

This illustrative JSON is derived from the current implementation-backed result contract. It shows what the command can return without claiming a recorded execution; values vary with inputs, host, permissions, and optional tools.

Example command: qzx traceEnvVar "PORT" --json

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "Traces usage of an environment variable across code files, .env, and .env.example templates. In this illustrative example, the command completed successfully.",
    "env_files_diagnostics": "C:\\project\\example.txt",
    "project_path": "C:\\project\\example.txt",
    "references": [
        {
            "path": "src/settings.py",
            "line": 12,
            "context": "API_URL = os.getenv(\"API_URL\")"
        }
    ],
    "references_count": 3,
    "var_name": "Example value"
}

View the JSON result contract

{
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "type": "object",
    "required": [
        "success",
        "message"
    ],
    "properties": {
        "success": {
            "type": "boolean"
        },
        "message": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "env_files_diagnostics": [],
        "error": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "project_path": [],
        "references": [],
        "references_count": [],
        "var_name": []
    },
    "additionalProperties": true
}

Errors and limits

The public contract requires success=false and a descriptive message on failure. This catalog does not yet declare a command-specific error taxonomy; inspect the result and do not invent error codes.

QZX is alpha software. Optional dependencies, permissions, and host capabilities can change the result.

Evidence workflow: ready for deterministic automated capture.

Evidence and provenance

Implementation: src/qzx/commands/development/trace_env_var.py
Tests: tests/test_development_commands/test_trace_env_var.py
Documentation channel: Development documentation 0.2.2.0.2 · main · sha256:319b16857a87636ebc3b89734cc040a737bb56194464fca33ce73bdae2043096
Availability: 0.2.2.0.2 or earlier

Keep exploring

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