This is your reference when juggling Vercel environment variables, `.env` file hierarchy, and the `vercel env` CLI. It walks you through the load order (`.env`, `.env.local`, `.env.production.local`), when to use `vercel env pull` versus dashboard settings, and how OIDC tokens expire after 12 hours locally. The chainTo pattern catches raw API keys like `OPENAI_API_KEY` and nudges you toward Vercel's keyless OIDC flow instead. Honest take: `vercel env pull` overwrites your entire `.env.local`, so any custom debug flags you added manually vanish. Back them up first or you'll be recreating them every time you pull fresh secrets.
npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/vercel-plugin --skill env-vars