How do I update environment variables on an instance?

Who can do this

Platform Admin or Infra Ops

Environment variables are managed per service per instance. The Services tab on the instance detail page shows the current values, any drift, and lets you set or remove overrides.

Steps

1. Open Instances and click the target instance.
2. Switch to the Services tab.
3. Find the service whose env you need to change. Drift (expected vs. actual) is shown inline if the running instance reports a different value than what the Console expects.
4. Expand the service row to see its variables.
5. For each variable:
   • Set Override to add or change a value.
   • Remove Override to fall back to the service default.
6. Click Apply Changes.

Result

The instance receives the new env on its next reconciliation tick (usually within a minute). The Services tab refreshes drift indicators as soon as the instance acknowledges the new values.

Roll out broadly via Releases

For multi-instance changes — like bumping a service image — use create a release instead. It's the audited path for fleet-wide rollouts.

Related

• How do I create a release?