Reference
Environment variables
Every variable Rule Cascade reads: the rcas command, its installers and npm package, the rule server, and the examples.
Every variable Rule Cascade reads: the rcas command, its installers and npm package, the rule
server, and the examples. The libraries (TypeScript, Python, Java, Go) and the evaluation engines read
no environment variables: what a rule sees comes only from the request.
| Variable | Used by | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
RCAS_CONFIG | rcas | the project file to use instead of looking for rcas.yaml upwards from the working directory (the same as --config) |
RCAS_RULES_DIR, RCAS_OUT_DIR | rcas | override rules.dir and output.dir of rcas.yaml (defaults rules, build/rules) |
RCAS_NO_NETWORK | rcas doctor | any value: skip the check for a newer release at rulescascade.com/download/latest/VERSION |
RCAS_PROGRAM_NAME | rcas, Windows installer | rcas or rule-cascade: the name the command calls itself; the Windows rule-cascade.cmd shim sets it |
CODEX_HOME | rcas mcp install, rcas doctor | where Codex keeps config.toml (default ~/.codex) |
HTTPS_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, NO_PROXY | installers, rcas doctor | proxy for downloads and the version check |
RCAS_VERSION | installers | version to install (default: the latest release) |
RCAS_INSTALL_DIR | installers | where to put rcas (default ~/.local/bin; %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\rcas on Windows) |
RCAS_VERIFY | installers | cosign: also verify the Sigstore signatures |
RCAS_DOWNLOAD_BASE | installers | a mirror of the download directory (default https://rulescascade.com/download) |
RCAS_BINARY_PATH | npm package @rules-cascade/cli | run this binary instead of the one from the platform package (development, air-gapped machines) |
RULES_DIR | rule server | directory of the rulesets to serve (default ./rules) |
PORT | rule server, backend examples | listen port (default 8080) |
RULE_SERVER_TOKEN | rule server | bearer token for evaluations, the server manifest and bundles; required |
RULE_SERVER_ALLOW_OPEN | rule server | 1 or true: start without a token and serve every endpoint openly (private networks, development) |
DRAIN_SECONDS | rule server | time between "not ready" and shutdown on SIGTERM (default 5) |
RULES_REFRESH, RULES_REFRESH_INTERVAL, RULES_REFRESH_CRON, RULES_REFRESH_TZ | rule server | reload rules manually (SIGHUP), every interval (30s, 5m), or on a cron schedule in a time zone (default UTC); see caching |
RULE_SERVER_WORKERS | rule server | evaluate on this many worker threads; 0 (default) on the event loop |
RULE_EVALUATION_TIMEOUT_MS | rule server | with workers: answer 503 and replace the worker after this long (default 5000) |
RULE_CASCADE_ENGINE | engine-client examples | the command the examples start for the engine protocol (default rule-cascade on PATH, which rcas installs) |
RULE_CASCADE_WASM | engine-client examples | the WebAssembly module (default rcas.wasm) |
RULES_BUNDLE | backend examples | the compiled bundle to load |