diff --git a/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts b/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
index 3de0bc1..72d9d75 100644
--- a/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
+++ b/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
  */
 export const commitinfo = {
   name: '@push.rocks/npmextra',
-  version: '5.0.8',
+  version: '5.0.9',
   description: 'do more with npm'
 }
diff --git a/ts/npmextra.classes.appdata.ts b/ts/npmextra.classes.appdata.ts
index 7027ffd..cb8d48d 100644
--- a/ts/npmextra.classes.appdata.ts
+++ b/ts/npmextra.classes.appdata.ts
@@ -72,7 +72,12 @@ export class AppData<T = any> {
       // Recursive function to handle nested objects, now includes key parameter
       const processEnvMapping = async (key: string, mappingValue: any, parentKey: string = ''): Promise<any> => {
         if (typeof mappingValue === 'string') {
-          let envValue = await qenvInstance.getEnvVarOnDemand(mappingValue);
+          let envValue: string;
+          if (mappingValue.startsWith('hard:')) {
+            envValue = mappingValue.replace('hard:', '');
+          } else {
+            envValue = await qenvInstance.getEnvVarOnDemand(mappingValue);
+          }
           if (envValue) {
             if (mappingValue.endsWith('_JSON')) {
               envValue = JSON.parse(envValue);
@@ -80,8 +85,10 @@ export class AppData<T = any> {
             if (!parentKey) {
               await this.kvStore.writeKey(key, envValue);
             } else {
-              return envValue;
+              return undefined;
             }
+          } else {
+            return null;
           }
         } else if (typeof mappingValue === 'object' && mappingValue !== null) {
           const resultObject = {};