I have a need to have separate sites behave as if they are clones of each other; that is, they each need to have the same site UUID.

Due to the environment I am operating in, I am unable to change the site UUID via drush config:edit once the site is installed as I have no SSH access to the environment. Likewise, the only way I can create a new site in this environment is to upload the files, create an empty database and then run the install script. This creates a new site, with a new UUID, and therefore is no longer a clone. Once sites are installed in the environment, my only way of interacting with them is through the administration UI.

Any site I create in this environment will have the same code base; it is not a matter of messing things up by importing the wrong config.

I can import the same database into the new site once it is installed using Backup and Migrate, thereby changing the UUID (I assume). However, this does not quite solve the problem because it may be the case that I need to create sites via scripts in our continuous integration system.

My initial solution is to add a line in settings.php to override the configuration item in question, ie:

$config['system.site']['uuid'] = 'this is the site uuid';

However, when I export the configuration, the override value is not respected and configuration is exported using the original value. I can test this by exporting the configuration from a clone and trying to import it. If the UUID was being overridden ‘fully’, then I would expect the configuration import to fail.

Ideally, I would like to set the site UUID through an environment variable or service, so any site with access to the variable or service would be able to use the same UUID, and therefore be considered clones.

Has anyone had any success with something similar?