[Bug]: Compose.yaml variable substitution ignored when target arg exists in environment (even if empty)

[kmaid]

Error Message and Logs

Summary
When using compose.yaml to map Coolify's SERVICE_URL_* to a custom arg name, the substitution fails if that arg name exists in Coolify's environment variables. Coolify's --build-arg passes the empty value, overriding the substitution. The variable cannot be deleted due to "Please remove it from the Docker Compose file first" error.

Steps to Reproduce

1. compose.yaml - Map Coolify's auto-generated URL to app's expected variable:
   services: app: build: args: - MY_URL=${SERVICE_URL_APP}
2. Coolify environment contains:
   SERVICE_URL_APP=https://generated.example.com # Auto-generated ✅MY_URL= # Previously defined, now empty
3. Try to delete MY_URL:

❌ Cannot delete environment variable 'MY_URL'
Please remove it from the Docker Compose file first.

4. Build runs with:
   docker compose --env-file build-time.env --build-arg MY_URL --build-arg SERVICE_URL_APP ...
5. Dockerfile receives:
   MY_URL='' # ❌ Empty - substitution ignoredSERVICE_URL_APP='https://generated.example.com' # ✅ Exists
   Expected
   MY_URL receives https://generated.example.com from ${SERVICE_URL_APP}
   OR allow deletion of MY_URL since ${MY_URL} isn't in compose.yaml
   Actual
   MY_URL is empty
   Cannot delete MY_URL
   User is stuck

Example Repository URL

No response

Coolify Version

v4.0.0-beta.452

Are you using Coolify Cloud?

No (self-hosted)

Operating System and Version (self-hosted)

No response

Additional Information

No response

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🔗 Similar & Duplicate Issues

Possible Duplicates

• coollabsio/coolify#7263

Related Issues

• coollabsio/coolify#5555
• coollabsio/coolify#7231
• coollabsio/coolify#5824
• coollabsio/coolify#7127
• coollabsio/coolify#5634
• coollabsio/coolify#6202
• coollabsio/coolify#6277

🔗 Related PRs

#6689 - v4.0.0-beta.430 [merged] | .github/workflows/chore-pr-comments.yml:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

Adds a GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/chore-pr-comments.yml that triggers on PRs when labeled. Introduces a job "add-comment" with ubuntu-latest, PR write permissions, and a matrix-based mapping of two labels to corresponding comment bodies. For each labeled PR, it posts a tailored comment to the PR using the gh CLI, gated by a conditional that checks the event label against the matrix entry. Includes environment variables for token, repo, PR number, and body, and supports an additional commented-out enhancement path. Provides specific guidance messages for labels "⚙️ Service" and "🛠️ Feature" and references to Coolify documentation contribution URLs.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• None. No exported/public entity signatures were modified.

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

---

config/constants.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• Bumps the Coolify beta version in the configuration from 4.0.0-beta.429 to 4.0.0-beta.430. No other behavioral changes detected in the diff.

• Method added: none

• Method signature updated: none

• Variable renamed: none

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

---

other/nightly/docker-compose.prod.yml:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• Updated the soketi service image tag from 1.0.9 to 1.0.10. This changes the exact container image used for the soketi service; no other configuration or health check logic is touched.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• None. No exported/public entity signatures were changed.

Estimated code review effort: Low
"""

---

other/nightly/docker-compose.windows.yml:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

Changed the soketi service image for the coolify-realtime component from 1.0.0 to 1.0.10. No other changes to service configuration, healthchecks, or dependencies.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• No changes to exported/public declarations detected.

Estimated code review effort: Low
"""

---

other/nightly/versions.json:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• Bumps version strings in other/nightly/versions.json:
  • coolify.v4.version: 4.0.0-beta.428 -> 4.0.0-beta.430
  • coolify.nightly.version: 4.0.0-beta.429 -> 4.0.0-beta.431
• No other fields in the file are modified.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• None. No exported/public declarations were modified.

Estimated code review effort: Low
"""

---

versions.json:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

Two version fields were incremented:

• coolify.v4.version updated from "4.0.0-beta.429" to "4.0.0-beta.430"
• coolify.nightly.version updated from "4.0.0-beta.430" to "4.0.0-beta.431"

No other entries changed.

• Field modified: version in object coolify.v4 → from "4.0.0-beta.429" to "4.0.0-beta.430"
• Field modified: version in object coolify.nightly → from "4.0.0-beta.430" to "4.0.0-beta.431"

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

---

app/Jobs/ApplicationDeploymentJob.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

In ApplicationDeploymentJob::deploy_docker_compose_buildpack, when not using Build Secrets and there are non-empty build arguments, the code now escapes single quotes in the assembled build-args string before appending it to the docker-compose build command. This changes the control flow and input handling for the build command construction, preventing Bash parsing issues with single quotes.

• No exported/public entity signatures were modified.

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

---

resources/views/livewire/project/shared/environment-variable/add.blade.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• Removed the combined condition ($isNixpacks) from the Blade if guard, changing the block visibility to only depend on !$shared. Previously the block showed when either !$shared or $isNixpacks; now it shows only when !$shared.
• Minor formatting adjustment inside the block: the is_runtime checkbox attributes are consolidated onto a single line, reducing line breaks but preserving functionality. No change to the label or helper texts other than inline formatting.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• None. No signatures of exported/public entities were changed.

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

---

app/Livewire/Project/Application/PreviewsCompose.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• In the branch using an existing domain, extracts the port from the domain URL via getPort(), forming a string with a leading colon when present, or an empty string when absent.
• Replaces the {{port}} placeholder in the preview URL template with the computed port string.
• The rest of the URL assembly logic remains unchanged: random, domain, pr_id substitutions, and final schema-prefixed URL assembly.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• No exported or public API declarations changed.

Estimated code review effort: Medium

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""
#6757 - feat(deployments): generate SERVICE_NAME environment variables from Docker Compose services [merged] | app/Models/Service.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

Adds logic to generate SERVICE_NAME_* environment variables from the docker-compose content. When docker_compose is present, it parses the YAML, iterates over services, and for each service name, pushes an entry SERVICE_NAME_ with the value equal to the original service name, converting hyphens and dots to underscores and uppercasing. This is collected into envs and merged with existing environment variables. Includes error handling that logs exceptions via ray. The new envs generation occurs before preparing envs from existing variables, altering the order of initialization and ensuring the new variables are included in the final env payload. The rest of the flow remains: sort env vars, build key=value strings, and either touch or base64-encode the env payload for remote execution.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

none

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

---

bootstrap/helpers/parsers.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• Introduces generation of SERVICE_NAME environment variables for docker-compose services by computing service-name mappings via generateDockerComposeServiceName.
• In applicationParser, computes serviceNameEnvironments (only when build_pack is dockercompose) and uses the result to augment the environment payload for each service by merging serviceNameEnvironments into the final environment map.
• In serviceParser, computes serviceNameEnvironments unconditionally and merges it into each service payload’s environment when environment data exists.
• The control flow now ensures docker-compose service name variables are available as environment variables for both application-level and service-level parsing, affecting how environment data is prepared and merged.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• None

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""
#7339 - fix: preserve Docker build cache by excluding dynamic variables [merged] | app/Jobs/ApplicationDeploymentJob.php:
"""

AI-generated summary of changes

• Replaced a log message when creating the runtime environment file to reference container context instead of build phase.
• Introduced a new parameter bool $forBuildTime to generate_coolify_env_variables and updated all call sites to pass forBuildTime to reflect build-time vs runtime distinctions.
• Hardened COOLIFY_CONTAINER_NAME handling by removing its inclusion in build-time variables; it remains available for runtime only.
• Adjusted various call sites to request build-time vs runtime variables via forBuildTime accordingly.
• Changed secrets hash generation to be deterministic by using APP_KEY instead of generating a random value, to preserve Docker build cache across deployments.
• Updated internal logic/comments to reflect the new build-time vs runtime separation and the deterministic secrets hashing.

Alterations to the declarations of exported or public entities

• No changes to signatures of exported or public entities detected.

Manifest File Analyzer

Estimated code review effort: Medium
"""

👤 Suggested Assignees

• andrasbacsai
• ton77v
• ReptoxX
• pnearing
• hamanuha

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[kmaid]

I found the solution to my issue: uncheck the "inject" checkbox for variables where you want docker-compose substitution to take precedence.

In my case:
docker-compose: NEXT_PUBLIC_POCKETBASE_URL=${SERVICE_URL_POCKETBASE}
Coolify had NEXT_PUBLIC_POCKETBASE_URL with "inject" enabled (set to empty) by default
The injected empty value overrode the ${SERVICE_URL_POCKETBASE} substitution
Unchecking "inject" for NEXT_PUBLIC_POCKETBASE_URL fixed it

The UX issue: It wasn't clear that:
"Inject" takes precedence over docker-compose substitutions
When remapping variables in docker-compose (e.g., MY_VAR=${OTHER_VAR}), you need to disable inject for MY_VAR

Suggestion: When a variable name in Coolify matches a docker-compose build arg that uses a different substitution (like ${SERVICE_URL_*}), show a hint:

ℹ️ This variable is mapped to ${SERVICE_URL_POCKETBASE} in docker-compose. Disable "inject" to use the docker-compose value

or possibley mention this in the delete dialog as a hint on how to handle deletion.