Follow symlinks in dotenv set/unset

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- `dotenv set` / `dotenv unset` now follow symlinks instead of replacing the link with a regular file ([#541])
 - An unquoted empty value followed by an inline comment (e.g. `KEY= # comment`) is now parsed as an empty string instead of the comment text by [@Noethix55555] in [#663]
 
 ## [1.2.3] - 2026-08-16

src/dotenv/cli.py

@@ -114,17 +114,12 @@ def list_values(ctx: click.Context, output_format: str) -> None:
 @click.argument("key", required=True)
 @click.argument("value", required=True)
 def set_value(ctx: click.Context, key: Any, value: Any) -> None:
-    """
-    Store the given key/value.
-
-    This doesn't follow symlinks, to avoid accidentally modifying a file at a
-    potentially untrusted path.
-    """
+    """Store the given key/value."""
 
     file = ctx.obj["FILE"]
     quote = ctx.obj["QUOTE"]
     export = ctx.obj["EXPORT"]
-    success, key, value = set_key(file, key, value, quote, export)
+    success, key, value = set_key(file, key, value, quote, export, follow_symlinks=True)
     if success:
         click.echo(f"{key}={value}")
     else:
@@ -152,15 +147,10 @@ def get(ctx: click.Context, key: Any) -> None:
 @click.pass_context
 @click.argument("key", required=True)
 def unset(ctx: click.Context, key: Any) -> None:
-    """
-    Removes the given key.
-
-    This doesn't follow symlinks, to avoid accidentally modifying a file at a
-    potentially untrusted path.
-    """
+    """Removes the given key."""
     file = ctx.obj["FILE"]
     quote = ctx.obj["QUOTE"]
-    success, key = unset_key(file, key, quote)
+    success, key = unset_key(file, key, quote, follow_symlinks=True)
     if success:
         click.echo(f"Successfully removed {key}")
     else:

tests/test_cli.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
 
@@ -87,6 +88,38 @@ def test_get_not_a_file(cli):
     assert "Error opening env file" in result.output
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.platform == "win32", reason="symlinks need extra privileges on Windows"
+)
+def test_set_follows_symlink(cli, tmp_path):
+    target = tmp_path / "real.env"
+    target.write_text("a=x\n")
+    link = tmp_path / ".env"
+    link.symlink_to(target)
+
+    result = cli.invoke(dotenv_cli, ["--file", str(link), "set", "a", "y"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert link.is_symlink()
+    assert target.read_text() == "a='y'\n"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.platform == "win32", reason="symlinks need extra privileges on Windows"
+)
+def test_unset_follows_symlink(cli, tmp_path):
+    target = tmp_path / "real.env"
+    target.write_text("a=b\n")
+    link = tmp_path / ".env"
+    link.symlink_to(target)
+
+    result = cli.invoke(dotenv_cli, ["--file", str(link), "unset", "a"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert link.is_symlink()
+    assert target.read_text() == ""
+
+
 def test_unset_existing_value(cli, dotenv_path):
     dotenv_path.write_text("a=b")