As of 2.0.0.beta.2, you can access the running example's metadata hash from an example or before/after(:each). Let's support accessing it from before/after(:all) as well - at least at the example group level. e.g.

describe "something" do
  before(:all) do
    running_example_group.metadata[:foo] = 'bar'
  end
  it "does something" do
    running_example.metadata[:example_group][:foo].should eq('bar")
    # or
    running_example_group.metadata[:foo].should eq("bar")
  end
end