diff --git a/.changeset/silly-timers-repair.md b/.changeset/silly-timers-repair.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..711fbc7f2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/silly-timers-repair.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"trigger.dev": patch
+---
+
+Can now set project ref using the TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF env var
diff --git a/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/deploy.ts b/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/deploy.ts
index 5355534a22..581235e325 100644
--- a/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/deploy.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/deploy.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import { login } from "./login.js";
 import { updateTriggerPackages } from "./update.js";
 import { setGithubActionsOutputAndEnvVars } from "../utilities/githubActions.js";
 import { isDirectory } from "../utilities/fileSystem.js";
+import { resolveLocalEnvVars } from "../utilities/localEnvVars.js";
 
 const DeployCommandOptions = CommonCommandOptions.extend({
   dryRun: z.boolean().default(false),
@@ -207,9 +208,15 @@ async function _deployCommand(dir: string, options: DeployCommandOptions) {
     }
   }
 
+  const envVars = resolveLocalEnvVars(options.envFile);
+
+  if (envVars.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF) {
+    logger.debug("Using project ref from env", { ref: envVars.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF });
+  }
+
   const resolvedConfig = await loadConfig({
     cwd: projectPath,
-    overrides: { project: options.projectRef },
+    overrides: { project: options.projectRef ?? envVars.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF },
     configFile: options.config,
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/dev.ts b/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/dev.ts
index 94cec75dce..cfb8ba8dca 100644
--- a/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/dev.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-v3/src/commands/dev.ts
@@ -1,23 +1,18 @@
 import { ResolvedConfig } from "@trigger.dev/core/v3/build";
 import { Command } from "commander";
 import { z } from "zod";
-import {
-  CommonCommandOptions,
-  commonOptions,
-  SkipLoggingError,
-  wrapCommandAction,
-} from "../cli/common.js";
+import { CommonCommandOptions, commonOptions, wrapCommandAction } from "../cli/common.js";
 import { watchConfig } from "../config.js";
 import { DevSessionInstance, startDevSession } from "../dev/devSession.js";
+import { createLockFile } from "../dev/lock.js";
 import { chalkError } from "../utilities/cliOutput.js";
+import { resolveLocalEnvVars } from "../utilities/localEnvVars.js";
 import { printDevBanner, printStandloneInitialBanner } from "../utilities/initialBanner.js";
 import { logger } from "../utilities/logger.js";
 import { runtimeChecks } from "../utilities/runtimeCheck.js";
 import { getProjectClient, LoginResultOk } from "../utilities/session.js";
 import { login } from "./login.js";
 import { updateTriggerPackages } from "./update.js";
-import { createLockFile } from "../dev/lock.js";
-import { BundleError } from "../build/bundle.js";
 
 const DevCommandOptions = CommonCommandOptions.extend({
   debugOtel: z.boolean().default(false),
@@ -133,6 +128,12 @@ async function startDev(options: StartDevOptions) {
 
     printDevBanner(displayedUpdateMessage);
 
+    const envVars = resolveLocalEnvVars(options.envFile);
+
+    if (envVars.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF) {
+      logger.debug("Using project ref from env", { ref: envVars.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF });
+    }
+
     watcher = await watchConfig({
       cwd: options.cwd,
       async onUpdate(config) {
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ async function startDev(options: StartDevOptions) {
         devInstance = await bootDevSession(config);
       },
       overrides: {
-        project: options.projectRef,
+        project: options.projectRef ?? envVars.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF,
       },
       configFile: options.config,
     });
diff --git a/packages/cli-v3/src/dev/devSupervisor.ts b/packages/cli-v3/src/dev/devSupervisor.ts
index 46ed913121..970b05e6bd 100644
--- a/packages/cli-v3/src/dev/devSupervisor.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-v3/src/dev/devSupervisor.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import {
 import { ResolvedConfig } from "@trigger.dev/core/v3/build";
 import { CliApiClient } from "../apiClient.js";
 import { DevCommandOptions } from "../commands/dev.js";
-import { resolveDotEnvVars } from "../utilities/dotEnv.js";
 import { eventBus } from "../utilities/eventBus.js";
 import { logger } from "../utilities/logger.js";
 import { sanitizeEnvVars } from "../utilities/sanitizeEnvVars.js";
@@ -25,6 +24,7 @@ import {
   WorkerServerToClientEvents,
 } from "@trigger.dev/core/v3/workers";
 import pLimit from "p-limit";
+import { resolveLocalEnvVars } from "../utilities/localEnvVars.js";
 
 export type WorkerRuntimeOptions = {
   name: string | undefined;
@@ -372,18 +372,16 @@ class DevSupervisor implements WorkerRuntime {
       this.options.config.project
     );
 
-    const processEnv = gatherProcessEnv();
-    const dotEnvVars = resolveDotEnvVars(undefined, this.options.args.envFile);
     const OTEL_IMPORT_HOOK_INCLUDES = (this.options.config.instrumentedPackageNames ?? []).join(
       ","
     );
 
     return {
-      ...sanitizeEnvVars(processEnv),
-      ...sanitizeEnvVars(
+      ...resolveLocalEnvVars(
+        this.options.args.envFile,
         environmentVariablesResponse.success ? environmentVariablesResponse.data.variables : {}
       ),
-      ...sanitizeEnvVars(dotEnvVars),
+      NODE_ENV: "development",
       TRIGGER_API_URL: this.options.client.apiURL,
       TRIGGER_SECRET_KEY: this.options.client.accessToken!,
       OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_COMPRESSION: "none",
@@ -581,16 +579,6 @@ class DevSupervisor implements WorkerRuntime {
   }
 }
 
-function gatherProcessEnv() {
-  const $env = {
-    ...process.env,
-    NODE_ENV: "development",
-  };
-
-  // Filter out undefined values
-  return Object.fromEntries(Object.entries($env).filter(([key, value]) => value !== undefined));
-}
-
 type ValidationIssue =
   | {
       type: "duplicateTaskId";
diff --git a/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/dev-run-controller.ts b/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/dev-run-controller.ts
index e9c91012ed..2f7ebc83fe 100644
--- a/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/dev-run-controller.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/dev-run-controller.ts
@@ -612,6 +612,7 @@ export class DevRunController {
         ...sanitizeEnvVars(this.opts.worker.params.env),
         TRIGGER_WORKER_MANIFEST_PATH: join(this.opts.worker.build.outputPath, "index.json"),
         RUN_WORKER_SHOW_LOGS: this.opts.logLevel === "debug" ? "true" : "false",
+        TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF: execution.project.ref,
       },
       serverWorker: {
         id: "unmanaged",
diff --git a/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/managed/execution.ts b/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/managed/execution.ts
index 41446cfa35..1a29190d75 100644
--- a/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/managed/execution.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-v3/src/entryPoints/managed/execution.ts
@@ -586,7 +586,10 @@ export class RunExecution {
 
     // To skip this step and eagerly create the task run process, run prepareForExecution first
     if (!this.taskRunProcess || !this.taskRunProcess.isPreparedForNextRun) {
-      this.taskRunProcess = this.createTaskRunProcess({ envVars, isWarmStart });
+      this.taskRunProcess = this.createTaskRunProcess({
+        envVars: { ...envVars, TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF: execution.project.ref },
+        isWarmStart,
+      });
     }
 
     this.sendDebugLog("executing task run process", { runId: execution.run.id });
diff --git a/packages/cli-v3/src/utilities/localEnvVars.ts b/packages/cli-v3/src/utilities/localEnvVars.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..225c2dae13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli-v3/src/utilities/localEnvVars.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import { resolveDotEnvVars } from "./dotEnv.js";
+import { sanitizeEnvVars } from "./sanitizeEnvVars.js";
+
+export function resolveLocalEnvVars(
+  envFile?: string,
+  additionalVariables?: Record<string, string>
+) {
+  const processEnv = gatherProcessEnv();
+  const dotEnvVars = resolveDotEnvVars(undefined, envFile);
+
+  return {
+    ...sanitizeEnvVars(processEnv),
+    ...sanitizeEnvVars(additionalVariables ?? {}),
+    ...sanitizeEnvVars(dotEnvVars),
+  };
+}
+
+function gatherProcessEnv() {
+  const $env = {
+    ...process.env,
+  };
+
+  // Filter out undefined values
+  return Object.fromEntries(Object.entries($env).filter(([key, value]) => value !== undefined));
+}
diff --git a/references/d3-chat/src/trigger/chat.ts b/references/d3-chat/src/trigger/chat.ts
index 67654bea9e..891d84457f 100644
--- a/references/d3-chat/src/trigger/chat.ts
+++ b/references/d3-chat/src/trigger/chat.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ const queryApprovalTask = schemaTask({
     query: z.string().describe("The SQL query to execute"),
   }),
   run: async ({ userId, input, query }) => {
+    logger.info("queryApproval: starting", { projectRef: process.env.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF });
+
     const token = await wait.createToken({
       tags: [`user:${userId}`, "approval"],
       timeout: "5m", // timeout in 5 minutes
diff --git a/references/d3-chat/trigger.config.ts b/references/d3-chat/trigger.config.ts
index 603909666a..ac84181392 100644
--- a/references/d3-chat/trigger.config.ts
+++ b/references/d3-chat/trigger.config.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import { OTLPLogExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http";
 import { OTLPTraceExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http";
 
 export default defineConfig({
-  project: "proj_cdmymsrobxmcgjqzhdkq",
+  project: process.env.TRIGGER_PROJECT_REF!,
   dirs: ["./src/trigger"],
   telemetry: {
     logExporters: [