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In this guide, we’ll show you how to capture and reuse environment variables from a remote Kubernetes container when intercepting a service with Telepresence. By exporting these variables into a local .env file, you ensure your local process runs with the exact same configuration as in the cluster.

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1. Intercept the Remote Service

Suppose you have a products service deployed in your Kubernetes cluster. To forward traffic from that service to your local machine, run: 
telepresence intercept products-depl --port 8000:3000
This command maps remote port 3000 to your local port 8000, but it doesn’t pull in any environment variables by default.

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2. Inspect the Deployment’s Environment Variables

Your Kubernetes deployment might define variables like this: 
spec:
  containers:
    - name: products
      image: sanjeevkt720/telepresence-products
      ports:
        - containerPort: 3000
          name: web
      env:
        - name: API_URL
          value: http://inventory-service:3000/
        - name: LOG_LEVEL
          value: debug
When you run your service locally, it needs access to API_URL, LOG_LEVEL, and any other container-specific settings.

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3. Generate a Local .env File

Telepresence can automatically dump all container environment variables into a file. Simply add the --env-file flag to your intercept command: 
telepresence intercept products-depl \
  --port 8000:3000 \
  --env-file .env
After the command runs, you’ll find a .env file in your current directory containing: 
API_URL=http://inventory-service:3000/
LOG_LEVEL=debug
# ...other variables
You can choose any filename for the environment file (e.g., dev.env or products.env). Just update your intercept command accordingly.

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4. Load the .env File in Your Local Process

Most development tools support dotenv files out of the box. For example, with a Node.js application you can: 
npm install dotenv

// index.js
require('dotenv').config();
console.log('API URL:', process.env.API_URL);
Or, if you prefer a one-liner in Bash: 
export $(grep -v '^#' .env | xargs) && npm start
Avoid committing your .env file to version control if it contains sensitive data. Add it to your .gitignore instead.

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5. Summary of Key Flags

FlagDescriptionExample
--portForward remote port to local--port 8000:3000
--env-fileDump container environment variables to file--env-file .env

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