Environment variables in solutions

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Power Platform product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Important

Some of the functionality described in this release plan has not been released. Delivery timelines may change and projected functionality may not be released (see Microsoft policy). Learn more: What's new and planned

Enabled for Public preview Early access General availability
Admins, makers, or analysts, automatically Nov 2019 - -

Business value

Apps and flows often require different configuration settings across environments. Environment variables allow you to transport application configuration data with solutions and optionally manipulate the values in your Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) pipeline. They act as configurable input parameters allowing you to reference an environment variable within other solution components. You can update a value without modifying other components directly when using environment variables.

Feature details

Benefits of using environment variables:

  • No need to manually edit other solution components in a production environment.
  • Configure one or more variables in one place and reference like a parameter across multiple solution components.
  • Update configurable values without a code change.
  • Granular-level security managed by Common Data Service.
  • Managed properties can be set to block editing of the definitions and values.
  • Unlimited number of variables (max solution size is 29 MB).
  • Service the definitions and the values independently or together.
  • Supported by SolutionPackager and DevOps tools enable continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).
  • Localize display strings.

Current limitations:

  • Caching
  • Native support for canvas apps
  • Not a secure store for secrets, such as passwords
  • Dependencies are not enforced for certain component types

See also

Announcing Environment variables in solutions (blog)

Environment variables (docs)