denv - Auto source bash .denv.bash of your workspace

A standalone Go program that helps you automatically sources .denv.bash files when you enter a directory. It finds all denv files in the ancestor chain and loads the allowed ones from outer to inner, nesting shells or iterating a colon-separated chain.

Inspired by direnv, but simpler: it spawns a new interactive bash shell instead of exporting environment diffs back to the parent shell.

Why?

1. direnv creates a new bash process, loads .envrc, and exports the diff back to the parent shell, so aliases and functions cannot be exported (see also GitHub issue). denv simply spawns a new $BASH and lets you cd out to exit.
2. direnv loads the closest .envrc from the ancestor chain — parent environments are unloaded when entering a subdirectory with its own .envrc. denv finds all .denv.bash files in the ancestor chain and loads the allowed ones from outer to inner, letting you compose workspace-wide and project-level settings naturally.

Install

Download the latest binary from the releases page and put it in your PATH:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/roxma/denv/releases/latest/download/denv_linux_$(uname -m) | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/denv > /dev/null && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/denv

Or install with Go:

go install github.com/roxma/denv@latest

Usage

Add to your .bashrc:

# Optional: override the default config path (~/.config/denv/denv.json)
# export DENV_CONFIG="$HOME/.config/denv/denv.json"

PROMPT_COMMAND='eval "$(denv prompt)"'

Then:

$ mkdir foo && echo 'echo "in foo directory"' > foo/.denv.bash

$ cd foo
denv: spawn /bin/bash
denv: loading [/home/you/foo/.denv.bash]
in foo directory

$ cd ..
denv: exit [/home/you/foo/.denv.bash]

Subcommands

$ denv
denv 1.0.0
auto source .denv.bash of your workspace

USAGE:
    denv [SUBCOMMAND]

SUBCOMMANDS:
    prompt   for bashrc: PROMPT_COMMAND='eval "$(denv prompt)"'
    allow    Grant permission to denv to load the .denv.bash
    deny     Remove the permission
    prune    Remove non-existing-file permissions

denv prompt

Generates the shell hook code. If no shell name is given, denv auto-detects the parent shell. Only bash and sh are supported today.

denv allow

Grants permission to load all denv files found in the current directory and its ancestors. Permissions are stored in ~/.config/denv/denv.json.

Loading traverses the ancestor chain from outermost to innermost and stops at the first denied entry. Allowed ancestors before that point will still load. Running denv allow once approves every denv file between the current directory and the filesystem root.

denv deny [path]

Revokes permission. If path is omitted, denies the .denv.bash for the current directory. If path is a directory, denies the .denv.bash inside it.

denv prune

Removes entries pointing to deleted files/directories from the config.

.denv tips

• export WORKSPACE_DIR=$(readlink -f "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")") for .denv.bash to locate its directory.
• exec bash to reload a modified .denv.bash.

Why not Bash or Python?

An early Python prototype took ~80 ms — too slow for every prompt. A Go binary starts in under 2ms.

Permission model

denv allow records the file's ctime (inode change time). Before loading, denv checks it still matches. Unlike mtime, ctime cannot be set arbitrarily and is available from stat(2) without reading the file. Any edit, chmod, or touch changes ctime and requires re-approval.

Notes

• Take care of background jobs before leaving an .denv.bash scope — denv will refuse to load if you have active jobs.
• The .denv.bash can be a file or a directory. If it's a directory, $DENV_LOAD/denv.bash is sourced instead.

.envrc compatibility

When no .denv/ or .denv.bash is found, denv falls back to .envrc. Precedence: .denv/ > .denv.bash > .envrc. Set "ignore_envrc": true in ~/.config/denv/denv.json to disable this.

Acknowledgements

This project was developed with assistance from DeepSeek, Kimi, kimi-cli, and the opencode tool.