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Terminal Messages

Send a status message to STDERR while the environment loads, without polluting the shell output.

Example

name value value_to

env-alias:

  WELCOME:
    name: null
    value: "Loaded checkout environment"
    value_to: "<stderr>"

  CACHE_HINT:
    name: null
    value: "Tip: run 'make clean' to reset"
    value_to: "<stderr>"

Walkthrough:

  1. Each definition's value is written to STDERR (which your shell ignores when sourcing), so you see the message on your terminal while the real export lines still load cleanly into your environment.
  2. Because name: null, nothing is exported under these names — they only produce terminal output.

Never use value_to to reveal a secret: STDERR can be captured by terminals, CI systems, and logs.