# Filebeat configuration file cannot retrieve local environment variables
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-configuration-file-cannot-retrieve-local-environment-variables/376104
**Category:** Beats
**Tags:** filebeat
**Created:** [March 19, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-configuration-file-cannot-retrieve-local-environment-variables/376104 "2025-03-19T02:52:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pacoxpk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pacoxpk)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2025, 2:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-configuration-file-cannot-retrieve-local-environment-variables/376104/1 "2025-03-19T02:52:22Z")
Filebeat version: 8.12.0
The configuration of filebeat.yml is as follows
```auto
filebeat.config.inputs:
enabled: true
path: /etc/filebeat/conf.d/*.yml
processors:
- add_fields:
fields:
environment: prod
from: $(IP)
- drop_fields:
fields: ["agent.ephemeral_id","agent.name","log.offset", "host.os.codename", "_id", "host.name", "host.id", "agent.version", "ecs.version", "agent.id", "@version", "version", "fields.index", "input.type", "_type", "agent.type","beats_input_codec_plain_applied","type.keyword"]
output.logstash:
hosts: ["10.1.100.64:5045"]
logging.level: info
logging.to_files: true
logging.files:
path: /var/log/filebeat/
name: filebeat
keepfiles: 7
permissions: 0644
```
In the environment variable configuration file, add the following statement:
```auto
export IP=$(hostname -I|awk '{print $1}')
```
And load the application using source/etc/profile
The local IP address can be obtained normally through echo $IP, but there is an error when starting the Filebeat service. The following are the logs related to the service startup error
```auto
{"log.level":"error","@timestamp":"2025-03-19T10:50:47.700+0800","log.origin":{"function":"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/cmd/instance.handleError","file.name":"instance/beat.go","file.line":1312},"message":"Exiting: error initializing processors: fail to unpack the add_fields configuration: missing field accessing 'processors.0.add_fields.fields.from' (source:'/etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml')","service.name":"filebeat","ecs.version":"1.6.0"}
```
How to write a configuration file and add the field "from" to obtain the local IP address
---
### Author:  [@leandrojmp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/leandrojmp)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-configuration-file-cannot-retrieve-local-environment-variables/376104/2 "2025-03-19T03:59:53Z")
> [@pacoxpk](#):
>
> `from: $(IP)`
This seems wrong, according to the [documentation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/filebeat/current/using-environ-vars.html) it should be something like this:
```auto
from: '${IP}'
```
How are you starting filebeat? As a service?
---
### Author:  [@pacoxpk](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pacoxpk)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2025, 5:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-configuration-file-cannot-retrieve-local-environment-variables/376104/3 "2025-03-19T05:20:28Z")
Thanks for your reply
Using the above method and attempting to start the Filebeat service, the error message that appears is consistent with the one above
```auto
Exiting: error initializing processors: fail to unpack the add_fields configuration: missing field accessing 'processors.0.add_fields.fields.from' (source:'/etc/filebeat/filebeat.yml')
```
---
### Author:  [@RainTown](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/RainTown)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2025, 8:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/filebeat-configuration-file-cannot-retrieve-local-environment-variables/376104/4 "2025-03-19T08:58:00Z")
I am unclear here.
You added `export IP=$(hostname -I|awk '{print $1}')` to /etc/profile ?
> [@pacoxpk](#):
>
> And load the application using source/etc/profile
and then you executed
`source /etc/profile`
in some shell and restarted filebeat service?