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dotenv - npm

Dotenv is a zero-dependency npm module that loads environment variables from a .env file into process.env, following The Twelve-Factor App methodology. It allows developers to manage configuration separately from code and provides options for preloading and customizing the configuration process. The latest version, 10.0.0, includes features like dotenv Sync for syncing .env files across environments and team members.

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dotenv - npm

Uploaded by

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20/11/2021 22:12 dotenv - npm

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dotenv
10.0.0 • Public • Published 6 months ago

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Announcement 📣
From the makers that brought you Dotenv, introducing Dotenv Sync.
Sync your .env files between machines, environments, and team members.
Join the early access list. 🕶

dotenv
Dotenv is a zero-dependency module that loads environment
variables from a .env file into process.env . Storing
configuration in the environment separate from code is based
on The Twelve-Factor App methodology.

build passing build failing npm v10.0.0 code style standard

coverage 100% license BSD-2-Clause Conventional Commits 1.0.0

Install

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# with npm
npm install dotenv

# or with Yarn
yarn add dotenv

Usage
As early as possible in your application, require and configure dotenv.

require('dotenv').config()

Create a .env file in the root directory of your project. Add environment-specific
variables on new lines in the form of NAME=VALUE . For example:

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USER=root
DB_PASS=s1mpl3

process.env now has the keys and values you defined in your .env file.

const db = require('db')
db.connect({
host: process.env.DB_HOST,
username: process.env.DB_USER,
password: process.env.DB_PASS
})

Preload
You can use the --require ( -r ) command line option to preload dotenv. By doing
this, you do not need to require and load dotenv in your application code. This is the
preferred approach when using import instead of require .

$ node -r dotenv/config your_script.js

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The configuration options below are supported as command line arguments in the
format dotenv_config_<option>=value

$ node -r dotenv/config your_script.js dotenv_config_path=/custom/pa

Additionally, you can use environment variables to set configuration options. Command
line arguments will precede these.

$ DOTENV_CONFIG_<OPTION>=value node -r dotenv/config your_script.js

$ DOTENV_CONFIG_ENCODING=latin1 node -r dotenv/config your_script.js

Config
config will read your .env file, parse the contents, assign it to process.env , and
return an Object with a parsed key containing the loaded content or an error key if it
failed.

const result = dotenv.config()

if (result.error) {
throw result.error
}

console.log(result.parsed)

You can additionally, pass options to config .

Options
Path

Default: path.resolve(process.cwd(), '.env')

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You may specify a custom path if your file containing environment variables is located
elsewhere.

require('dotenv').config({ path: '/custom/path/to/.env' })

Encoding

Default: utf8

You may specify the encoding of your file containing environment variables.

require('dotenv').config({ encoding: 'latin1' })

Debug

Default: false

You may turn on logging to help debug why certain keys or values are not being set as you
expect.

require('dotenv').config({ debug: process.env.DEBUG })

Parse
The engine which parses the contents of your file containing environment variables is
available to use. It accepts a String or Buffer and will return an Object with the parsed
keys and values.

const dotenv = require('dotenv')

const buf = Buffer.from('BASIC=basic')
const config = dotenv.parse(buf) // will return an object
console.log(typeof config, config) // object { BASIC : 'basic' }

Options
Debug

Default: false

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You may turn on logging to help debug why certain keys or values are not being set as you
expect.

const dotenv = require('dotenv')

const buf = Buffer.from('hello world')
const opt = { debug: true }
const config = dotenv.parse(buf, opt)
// expect a debug message because the buffer is not in KEY=VAL form

Rules
The parsing engine currently supports the following rules:

BASIC=basic becomes {BASIC: 'basic'}

empty lines are skipped
lines beginning with # are treated as comments
empty values become empty strings ( EMPTY= becomes {EMPTY: ''} )
inner quotes are maintained (think JSON) ( JSON={"foo": "bar"} becomes
{JSON:"{\"foo\": \"bar\"}" )
whitespace is removed from both ends of unquoted values (see more on trim ) ( FOO=
some value becomes {FOO: 'some value'} )
single and double quoted values are escaped ( SINGLE_QUOTE='quoted' becomes
{SINGLE_QUOTE: "quoted"} )
single and double quoted values maintain whitespace from both ends ( FOO=" some
value " becomes {FOO: ' some value '} )
double quoted values expand new lines ( MULTILINE="new\nline" becomes

{MULTILINE: 'new
line'}

FAQ
Should I commit my .env file?
No. We strongly recommend against committing your .env file to version control. It
should only include environment-specific values such as database passwords or API keys.
Your production database should have a different password than your development
database.
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Should I have multiple .env files?

No. We strongly recommend against having a "main" .env file and an "environment"
.env file like .env.test . Your config should vary between deploys, and you should
not be sharing values between environments.

In a twelve-factor app, env vars are granular controls, each fully orthogonal to other
env vars. They are never grouped together as “environments”, but instead are
independently managed for each deploy. This is a model that scales up smoothly as
the app naturally expands into more deploys over its lifetime.

– The Twelve-Factor App

What happens to environment variables that were already set?

We will never modify any environment variables that have already been set. In particular,
if there is a variable in your .env file which collides with one that already exists in your
environment, then that variable will be skipped. This behavior allows you to override all
.env configurations with a machine-specific environment, although it is not
recommended.

If you want to override process.env you can do something like this:

const fs = require('fs')
const dotenv = require('dotenv')
const envConfig = dotenv.parse(fs.readFileSync('.env.override'))
for (const k in envConfig) {
process.env[k] = envConfig[k]
}

Can I customize/write plugins for dotenv?

For [email protected] : Yes. dotenv.config() now returns an object representing the
parsed .env file. This gives you everything you need to continue setting values on
process.env . For example:

const dotenv = require('dotenv')

const variableExpansion = require('dotenv-expand')
const myEnv = dotenv.config()
variableExpansion(myEnv)
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What about variable expansion?

Try dotenv-expand

How do I use dotenv with import ?

ES2015 and beyond offers modules that allow you to export any top-level function ,
class , var , let , or const .

When you run a module containing an import declaration, the modules it imports
are loaded first, then each module body is executed in a depth-first traversal of the
dependency graph, avoiding cycles by skipping anything already executed.

– ES6 In Depth: Modules

You must run dotenv.config() before referencing any environment variables. Here's
an example of problematic code:

errorReporter.js :

import { Client } from 'best-error-reporting-service'

export const client = new Client(process.env.BEST_API_KEY)

index.js :

import dotenv from 'dotenv'

import errorReporter from './errorReporter'

dotenv.config()
errorReporter.client.report(new Error('faq example'))

client will not be configured correctly because it was constructed before

dotenv.config() was executed. There are (at least) 3 ways to make this work.

1. Preload dotenv: node --require dotenv/config index.js (Note: you do

not need to import dotenv with this approach)

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2. Import dotenv/config instead of dotenv (Note: you do not need to call

dotenv.config() and must pass options via the command line or environment
variables with this approach)
3. Create a separate file that will execute config first as outlined in this comment on
#133

Contributing Guide
See CONTRIBUTING.md

Change Log
See CHANGELOG.md