Rails 5.1 Encrypted Secrets RAILS_MASTER_KEY env variable not being read

Question

• I run export RAILS_MASTER_KEY=************************.
• I remove the key file from the directory.
• I check that ENV contains RAILS_MASTER_KEY with the correct key, and it does.
• I run rails console.
• I've even tried running RAILS_MASTER_KEY=************************ rails console to try to force the env var but not no avail

I still get the missing key error

Missing encryption key to decrypt secrets with. Ask your team for your master
key and put it in ENV["RAILS_MASTER_KEY"] (Rails::Secrets::MissingKeyError)`

Why isn't rails reading the environment variable? Here's the backtrace if it helps.

from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:37:in 'key'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:96:in 'encryptor'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:45:in 'decrypt'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:89:in 'preprocess'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:26:in 'block in parse'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:23:in 'each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:23:in 'each_with_object'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/secrets.rb:23:in 'parse'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/application.rb:391:in 'secrets'
from /Users/user/Company/service/config/initializers/redis.rb:1:in '<top (required)>'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/activesupport-5.1.0.rc2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:286:in 'load'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/activesupport-5.1.0.rc2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:286:in 'block in load'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/activesupport-5.1.0.rc2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:258:in 'load_dependency'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/activesupport-5.1.0.rc2/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:286:in 'load'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/engine.rb:655:in 'block in load_config_initializer'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/activesupport-5.1.0.rc2/lib/active_support/notifications.rb:168:in 'instrument'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/engine.rb:654:in 'load_config_initializer'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/engine.rb:612:in 'block (2 levels) in <class:Engine>'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/engine.rb:611:in 'each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/engine.rb:611:in 'block in <class:Engine>'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in 'instance_exec'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in 'run'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/initializable.rb:59:in 'block in run_initializers'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:228:in 'block in tsort_each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:350:in 'block (2 levels) in each_strongly_connected_component'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:422:in 'block (2 levels) in each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:431:in 'each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:421:in 'block in each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/initializable.rb:48:in 'each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/initializable.rb:48:in 'tsort_each_child'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:415:in 'call'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:415:in 'each_strongly_connected_component_from'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:349:in 'block in each_strongly_connected_component'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:347:in 'each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:347:in 'call'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:347:in 'each_strongly_connected_component'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:226:in 'tsort_each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/2.3.0/tsort.rb:205:in 'tsort_each'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/initializable.rb:58:in 'run_initializers'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/railties-5.1.0.rc2/lib/rails/application.rb:353:in 'initialize!'
from /Users/user/Company/service/config/environment.rb:5:in '<top (required)>'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application.rb:92:in 'require'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application.rb:92:in 'preload'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application.rb:143:in 'serve'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application.rb:131:in 'block in run'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application.rb:125:in 'loop'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application.rb:125:in 'run'
from /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/spring-2.0.1/lib/spring/application/boot.rb:19:in '<top (required)>'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/site_ruby/2.3.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in 'require'
from /Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/lib/ruby/site_ruby/2.3.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in 'require'
from -e:1:in '<main>'

Update

Running ENV in my terminal shows the RAILS_MASTER_KEY but I put a puts ENV in my environments/development.rb file and the variable is absent. What?

Answer 1

All my environment variable related problem with Rails were always because of spring. Try bin/spring stop then restart your console.