The environment.conf file is an optional file in a control repository that allows you to override some settings in your Puppet environment. As of version 5.5, five settings are available for environment.conf, as follows:

• modulepath: Where to search for Puppet modules.
• manifest: Where to search for site.pp, or a directory of node manifest files, parsed alphabetically.
• config_version: A user-defined script to generate the version produced by running the Puppet agent.
• environment_timeout: How long the Puppet environment caches data about an environment.
• static_catalogs: An advanced configuration that internally versions files served from the Puppet Master. It is on, by default.

Additionally, environment.conf is able to use variables produced from Puppet configurations. In the following example, we set two of the most common settings found in an environment.conf file:

# Extend Modulepath
# Using $basemodulepath to ensure all default modulepaths are still preserved
# This will now search for modules at $codedir/site, allowing us to place modules
# directly into the control repo. Often used for Roles and Profiles
modulepath = site:$basemodulepath
# Set version that appears during a Puppet run with a custom script
# Contained in base on control repo config_version = 'scripts/version.sh'