Environment variables

Kapitan reads a small set of KAPITAN_* environment variables to tune behaviour that has no dedicated CLI flag or inventory key. They are all optional and fall back to the defaults listed below.

A few rules apply to every variable on this page:

• They are read from the process environment only — there is no inventory equivalent for any KAPITAN_* variable.
• Each is read during a specific phase of a run (fetch, compile, or reveal); setting it has no effect outside that phase.
• Export them before invoking kapitan (e.g. KAPITAN_HELM_TIMEOUT=60 kapitan compile).

Dependency fetching

Read while fetching external dependencies — kapitan compile --fetch or --force-fetch. See External dependencies.

Variable	Default	When it applies	Description
KAPITAN_FETCH_RETRIES	3	git & http[s] fetch	Maximum attempts per fetch, including the first. Set to 1 to disable retries.
KAPITAN_FETCH_WAIT_MIN	0.5	git & http[s] fetch	Minimum backoff between attempts, in seconds.
KAPITAN_FETCH_WAIT_MAX	10	git & http[s] fetch	Maximum backoff between attempts, in seconds.
KAPITAN_FETCH_TIMEOUT	30	http[s] fetch	Per-request HTTP timeout, in seconds.

Helm input

Read when compiling Helm inputs.

Variable	Default	When it applies	Description
KAPITAN_HELM_PATH	helm	compile (helm input)	Path to the helm binary used by the Helm input type.
KAPITAN_HELM_TIMEOUT	30	compile (helm input)	Timeout for helm operations, in seconds.

Environment references

The env reference backend resolves ?{env:...} references from the environment at reveal time. See References.

Variable	Default	When it applies	Description
KAPITAN_VAR_<NAME>	reference default	reveal	Value substituted for the env reference <NAME>. The lower-case key is tried first, then the upper-cased key; if neither is set, the reference's stored default value is used.

For example, the reference ?{env:mysql_port} is revealed from KAPITAN_VAR_mysql_port (or KAPITAN_VAR_MYSQL_PORT).

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