Travis CI - Using repository environment variables in .travis.yml - travis-ci

Question

I'm looking to declare environment variables in my Travis CI repository settings and use them in my .travis.yml file to deploy an application and post a build notification in Slack.
I've set environment variables in my Travis CI repository settings like so:
My .travis.yml file appears as the following:
language: node_js
node_js:
- '0.12'
cache:
directories:
- node_modules
deploy:
edge: true
provider: cloudfoundry
api: $CF_API
username: $CF_USERNAME
password: $CF_PASSWORD
organization: $CF_ORGANIZATION
space: $CF_SPACE
notifications:
slack: $NOTIFICATIONS_SLACK
When I add the values into the .travis.yml file as they are, everything works as planned.
However, when I try to refer to the environment variables set in the repository, I receive no Slack notification on a build status, and the deployment fails.
Am I following this process correctly or is there something I'm overseeing?

Answer 1

I think it is probably too early in Travis CI's sequence for your environment variables to be read.
What I would suggest is to rather encrypt them using the travis command-line tool.
E.g.
$ travis encrypt
Reading from stdin, press Ctrl+D when done
username
Please add the following to your .travis.yml file:
secure: "TD955qR6qvpVIz3fLkGeeUhV76deeVRaLVYjW9YjV6Ob7wd+vPtACZ..."
Pro Tip: You can add it automatically by running with --add.
Then I would copy/paste the secure: "TD955qR6qvpVIz3fLkGeeUhV76d..." result at the appropriate place in your .travis.yml file:
language: node_js
node_js:
- '0.12'
cache:
directories:
- node_modules
deploy:
edge: true
provider: cloudfoundry
api:
secure: "bHU4+ZDFeZcHpuE/WRpgMBcxr8l..."
username:
secure: "TD955qR6qvpVIz3fLkGeeUhV76d..."
You can have more details about how to encrypt sensitive data on Travis CI here.
Hope this helps.