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Create a root key with the permissions listed on this page under Root Keys in the dashboard sidebar. CLI commands can instead use a session from unkey login with the required permissions. See Permission reference for every permission.
Remove variables from an by name, all in one atomic request. Names that don’t exist are ignored.

Usage

Flags

boolean
Skip the local confirmation prompt. Without --yes, the CLI shows the requested target on stderr and asks [y/N]. Enter y or yes to proceed. An empty answer, any other answer, or end of input cancels without sending the destructive request.Both stdin and stderr must be terminals to confirm interactively. In CI, with redirected input, or with redirected stderr, pass --yes explicitly. This also applies to --body and legacy unkey api paths. Authentication, permissions, and delete protection still apply. See Confirm destructive commands.
string
required
App ID or slug.
string
required
Environment ID or slug.
string
required
ID or slug. Both forms resolve to the same project.
string[]
required
Comma-separated variable names to remove, 1 to 50 per request. Each must be a POSIX shell name matching ^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$.

Shared flags

Every resource command accepts these; CLI output and shared flags describes them in full.
string
A JSON document sent as the request body instead of building it from the flags above. It is mutually exclusive with the request-building flags, and unknown fields are rejected locally. See Send a raw body.
string
Root key used for the request. Falls back to UNKEY_ROOT_KEY, then stored credentials, including a CLI session. See CLI authentication for the full precedence order.
string
default:"https://api.unkey.com"
Base URL of the API. Falls back to UNKEY_API_BASE_URL. You don’t normally need to set it.
string
default:"~/.unkey/config.toml"
Path of the TOML config file. Falls back to UNKEY_CONFIG. An explicit --config takes precedence over a stored CLI session. Browser login stores a session, not a root key in this file. See CLI authentication.
enum
default:"human"
Use human (default) for name-first summary tables and single-response trees, or json for the unchanged full response envelope, including all fields and pagination. Trees wrap long values without truncation. Terminal tables use relative timestamps and may shorten display names and descriptions, but never identifiers, slugs, or credentials. Redirected human output keeps complete values and uses RFC3339 UTC timestamps. Falls back to UNKEY_OUTPUT; other values are rejected. --json also selects JSON output. Add --debug to print the request ID to stderr. See Output formats.
boolean
Print the successful response’s request ID to stderr, separate from stdout.
boolean
Print the full response as JSON. Takes precedence over a valid --output or UNKEY_OUTPUT value.

Required permissions

Your root key must have delete permission on the environment’s variable collection:
Replace the placeholders with resource IDs, not names or slugs. A broader permission that covers this collection also grants access. Without a matching permission the API answers 403 and the CLI prints Permission denied: followed by the detail. See Root key permissions for the full catalog.

Examples

Remove two variables:
Send the request body as JSON:

API endpoint

The command calls POST /v2/environments.removeEnvironmentVariables and prints its response. The request fields carry the same names as the flags in camelCase, which is the shape --body expects.

Environment variables

Kinds, encryption, and how variables reach a deployment.
Last modified on November 11, 2026