User variables

Overview

User variables in ACE are simple name and value pairs. They are only used for development and are not part of the workspace. The best use of them would be to override existing workspace variable values for testing purposes.

danger

User variables are not part of the workspace and will not be present when the workspace is shared or deployed.

User variables can be created and modified via the Variables page by clicking the Edit user variables button located in the toolbar.

Edit user variables button also shows the count of existing user variables

For easy access to user variables, there is also an Override workspace variable button next to each workspace variable in the Variables page. Clicking this button will open the user variables editor with the selected workspace variable name pre-filled in the Name field.

Override workspace variable button

When a user variable with the same name as a workspace variable exists, the edit user variable button will replace the override button, and a yellow warning chip to indicate that the workspace variable is being overridden will appear.

Edit user variable button

User variable implementation differs between the web and desktop applications.

Web application

In the web application user variables are stored in MongoDB. This allows ACE to retrieve the latest changes to user variables and use them in flow or api testing.

Desktop application

In the desktop application, user variables are stored in a local .env file. This file is only read when ACE starts. This means that you will need to restart ACE for the changes to user variables to take effect. The user can also manually edit the .env file to add or modify user variables. This .env file is stored in the root of the folder used for ACE workspace storage.