Required member files and values

When a tool needs each teammate's own API key or login configuration, the Team Template can require it without putting anyone's credentials in the shared environment. A team admin defines what each member needs to provide; each member then supplies their own value or file for their own project. If you're here to supply yours, skip ahead to Provide your files and values.

Choose a file or environment value

As a team admin, open the template's detail page and find Environment and member files. Choose the kind of configuration the tool expects:

• Environment files hold named variables, such as API_KEY in .env.local. Set a row to Member for a value each teammate enters themselves, or Team for a shared value you supply. Member values can be required or optional; include instructions explaining how to obtain them. See Environment files and secrets for the editor and import steps.
• Member files are for a complete personal file, such as a CLI tool's configuration JSON. Every file requirement is required — only environment values can be optional.

To add a member-file requirement:

1. Open Member files and choose Add file requirement.
2. Choose Home or Project, then enter the Relative path. Home places the file in the member's home directory on their machines — for example, .config/example/config.json. Project places it relative to the project's working directory. Don't enter an absolute path; .., directories, and paths through symbolic links are unsupported.
3. Add instructions explaining what the file is for and how the member can obtain it on their computer.
4. Choose Add requirement.

The requirement records the destination and your instructions, not anyone's uploaded content. Team admins cannot read member files or values through template management.

Define the destination and instructions for a file each member must supply. Select the image to enlarge it.

Provide your files and values

If you're a member, the template's requirements appear during project creation: follow each one's instructions, enter the requested values, and select the requested files from your computer. Required values must be entered before creation; optional values can be added later.

For an existing project, enter or replace environment values in Project settings → Environment files; see Environment files and secrets. For member files:

1. Open Project settings → Member files.
2. Review the destination and instructions.
3. Select the file to upload. Each file can be up to 256 KiB. If an admin has moved a requirement to a new destination, your saved file needs your approval there: select Use my saved file at this new destination, or upload a replacement.
4. Choose Save files.

boxes.dev will deliver the saved file to your project's machines and keep it in place: it reapplies the file when a devbox starts or wakes, when your saved upload changes, and during periodic checks. boxes.dev manages the entire destination file, so change its contents by replacing the saved upload here rather than editing the file on the machine — direct edits will be replaced at the next check. If a file is missing, cannot be written safely, or needs destination approval, follow the explanation in Project settings before starting a new agent session.

Removing your saved file will make the requirement incomplete and block future startup until you provide a replacement. To download the saved copy, choose Download and confirm with the Google account linked to your boxes.dev account when prompted.

Your files and values are private to your account and project, but the files delivered to your devbox are unencrypted there, and processes and agents on that machine can read them. For storage, encryption, and removal details, see Your data and credentials.

What follows later changes

Member projects follow the template's current definitions and Team values. Independent projects receive a copy when created and keep their own settings afterward. In both cases, personal files and values belong to the member's exact project.

Definitions save separately from environment versions, so an admin does not need to save a new Team Template version to change a requirement. A missing value and a missing file block work at different times:

• A required environment value will block creation of a new project until the member enters it. If a value is missing later, boxes.dev will omit it from the environment file without blocking existing devboxes or new agent sessions.
• A required member file must be available before a startup script or a new Codex or Claude session can start. Adding a requirement can therefore block the member's next startup until they supply the file. It will not stop an agent session that is already running.

If an admin moves a member file to a new destination, boxes.dev will remove the old managed file, and the member needs to approve the new location with Use my saved file at this new destination or upload a replacement. For a renamed or moved environment value, the member needs to choose Use saved value here or enter a replacement. A change to instructions alone needs no approval.

Ask an agent to manage definitions

An admin working in the template's editing session can ask Codex or Claude to list, add, update, or remove requirements. For example:

Require each member to provide their personal tool configuration at ~/.config/example/config.json. Explain how to create it locally. Check the existing requirements first so we do not add a duplicate.

These commands edit requirements, not a member's uploaded content. See Agent command reference for exact commands and revision handling.