# Public Environment Variables For Your Tests Using cypress-expose Plugin

DevFeed: [Public Environment Variables For Your Tests Using cypress-expose Plugin](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/public-environment-variables-for-your-tests-using-cypress-expose-plugin-28883.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://glebbahmutov.com/blog/cypress-expose-plugin/>)

Author: Gleb Bahmutov

Published: 2026-03-12T04:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Gleb Bahmutov](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/gleb-bahmutov.md>)

Topics: [Cypress](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cypress.md>), [Environment Variables](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/environment-variables.md>), [Processes](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/processes.md>)

Tags: [ci](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ci.md>), [configuration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/configuration.md>), [cypress](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cypress.md>), [environment](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/environment.md>), [environment-variables](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/environment-variables.md>), [password](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/password.md>), [plugin](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/plugin.md>), [products](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/products.md>), [secrets](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/secrets.md>), [testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/testing.md>), [tests](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tests.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains how the cypress-expose plugin passes public process environment variables into Cypress tests after Cypress v16 made such variables private by default. It warns that the plugin is intended only for non-secret data.

## Source excerpt

Recently Cypress announced a change in how it will handle environment variables. Variables were always public and accessible to the appli