Cypress.env prefers value from cypress.json rather than CYPRESS_* env variable

[fnune]

Current behavior

Cypress.env("BASE_URL") returns http://localhost:5001 (the value in an environment variable) when running inside tests, but http://localhost:6666 (the value in cypress.json) when running from inside commands.

Desired behavior

Cypress.env("BASE_URL") returns http://localhost:5001 (the environment variable value) both when called from commands as well as tests, instead of returning a different result depending on the runtime.

Test code to reproduce

I have this command:

// cypress/support/commands.ts
Cypress.Commands.add("unauthenticate", () => {
    cy.request("GET", `${Cypress.env("BASE_URL")}/auth/logout`);
});

This cypress.json file:

{
    "env": {
        "BASE_URL": "http://localhost:6666"
    }
}

And I'm calling Cypress like so:

CYPRESS_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5001 yarn cypress:ci

Where the scripts look like this:

        "cypress:ci": "yarn cypress:ci:wait && yarn cypress:run",
        "cypress:ci:wait": "echo \"Waiting for the app at $CYPRESS_BASE_URL...\" && wait-on -t 120000 $CYPRESS_BASE_URL && echo 'Found it!'",
        "cypress:run": "cypress run",

Versions

Cypress package version: 6.8.0
Cypress binary version: 6.8.0
Electron version: 11.3.0
Bundled Node version: 12.18.3

[fnune]

A workaround (doesn't work: read below) for now:

// commands.ts
const BASE_URL = process.env.CYPRESS_BASE_URL || Cypress.env("BASE_URL");

Elsewhere:

Cypress.env("BASE_URL") // Can use Cypress.env elsewhere

---

EDIT: the workaround above doesn't work, as it still evaluates to what's in cypress.json. The way to solve it is by just using relative paths in commands:

[richardst89]

I've encountered this issue too.
However, if you include "--env SomeOtherVar=AnyValue" when executing, it appears to re-prioritise BaseUrl from the environment variables.

Definitely something buggy going on!

[jennifer-shehane]

Duplicate of #8680