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. Like member values, each file can be required or optional.

For a Team value that members may replace in their own projects, check Allow personal override. Members without a replacement will use your shared value. Their replacements will remain private to their own projects.

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. Leave Required checked if every member needs this file to create a project. Clear it for a file that only some members use, such as an optional local configuration file. Members will be able to skip an optional file and add it later in Project settings.
5. Choose Add requirement.

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

Define the destination, instructions, and Required choice for a file each member supplies. Select the image to enlarge it.

Provide your files and values

If you're a member, Needed to create the project groups the required values and files during project creation. Follow each one's instructions, enter the values, and choose the files from your computer. The bottom of the form names anything still missing; select an item to jump to it.

Choose Show optional for the remaining configuration. Values are grouped by the file they'll be written to, and optional member files follow them, with search for longer lists. Collapsing the section or changing the search keeps what you've entered. Optional values and files don't block project creation, but some tools may need them to work. You can add them now or later in Project settings.

New values are readable as you enter them. Choose Hide values when you want to cover them, such as during a screen share. This affects the required and optional values together.

Each file can be up to 256 KiB. Choose file opens your computer's file picker; once read, the form shows its filename and size. Selecting a file does not verify its credentials. Use Change or Remove to correct a selection. Your files and values are saved when you create the project.

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 can't be written safely, Project settings will explain what to change, and new devboxes and agent sessions won't start until it's fixed. A file you haven't saved, or one that needs destination approval, won't stop them: they'll start without it. For a required file, the desktop and mobile apps will show a warning until you add it. Until you save a file, boxes.dev won't write or remove anything at its destination, so if you skip an optional file you can keep a copy you created there yourself. You can also supply values and upload files from the mobile app's Project settings.

If you remove your saved file, boxes.dev will remove it from your machines at their next check. 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

Managed 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. Required environment values and required member files must be supplied before project creation. If an admin adds a required item to an existing managed project, the member's new devboxes and Codex or Claude sessions will start without it, and the desktop app will warn the member until they supply it. Agent sessions that are already running aren't affected.

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.