Gathering detailed insights and metrics for dotenv
Gathering detailed insights and metrics for dotenv
Gathering detailed insights and metrics for dotenv
Gathering detailed insights and metrics for dotenv
Loads environment variables from .env for nodejs projects.
npm install dotenv
Typescript
Module System
Min. Node Version
Node Version
NPM Version
97
Supply Chain
99.5
Quality
93.1
Maintenance
100
Vulnerability
100
License
Updated on 06 Dec 2024
Minified
Minified + Gzipped
JavaScript (98.89%)
TypeScript (1.11%)
Cumulative downloads
Total Downloads
Last day
21.6%
Compared to previous day
Last week
1.5%
Compared to previous week
Last month
4.6%
Compared to previous month
Last year
16.6%
Compared to previous year
7
Dotenv is supported by the community.
Special thanks to: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.
1# install locally (recommended) 2npm install dotenv --save
Or installing with yarn? yarn add dotenv
Create a .env
file in the root of your project (if using a monorepo structure like apps/backend/app.js
, put it in the root of the folder where your app.js
process runs):
1S3_BUCKET="YOURS3BUCKET" 2SECRET_KEY="YOURSECRETKEYGOESHERE"
As early as possible in your application, import and configure dotenv:
1require('dotenv').config() 2console.log(process.env) // remove this after you've confirmed it is working
1import 'dotenv/config'
That's it. process.env
now has the keys and values you defined in your .env
file:
1require('dotenv').config() 2// or import 'dotenv/config' if you're using ES6 3 4... 5 6s3.getBucketCors({Bucket: process.env.S3_BUCKET}, function(err, data) {})
If you need multiline variables, for example private keys, those are now supported (>= v15.0.0
) with line breaks:
1PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- 2... 3Kh9NV... 4... 5-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
Alternatively, you can double quote strings and use the \n
character:
1PRIVATE_KEY="-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nKh9NV...\n-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\n"
Comments may be added to your file on their own line or inline:
1# This is a comment 2SECRET_KEY=YOURSECRETKEYGOESHERE # comment 3SECRET_HASH="something-with-a-#-hash"
Comments begin where a #
exists, so if your value contains a #
please wrap it in quotes. This is a breaking change from >= v15.0.0
and on.
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.
1const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2const buf = Buffer.from('BASIC=basic') 3const config = dotenv.parse(buf) // will return an object 4console.log(typeof config, config) // object { BASIC : 'basic' }
Note: Consider using
dotenvx
instead of preloading. I am now doing (and recommending) so.It serves the same purpose (you do not need to require and load dotenv), adds better debugging, and works with ANY language, framework, or platform. – motdotla
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.
1$ node -r dotenv/config your_script.js
The configuration options below are supported as command line arguments in the format dotenv_config_<option>=value
1$ node -r dotenv/config your_script.js dotenv_config_path=/custom/path/to/.env dotenv_config_debug=true
Additionally, you can use environment variables to set configuration options. Command line arguments will precede these.
1$ DOTENV_CONFIG_<OPTION>=value node -r dotenv/config your_script.js
1$ DOTENV_CONFIG_ENCODING=latin1 DOTENV_CONFIG_DEBUG=true node -r dotenv/config your_script.js dotenv_config_path=/custom/path/to/.env
You need to add the value of another variable in one of your variables? Use dotenv-expand.
Use dotenvx to use command substitution.
Add the output of a command to one of your variables in your .env file.
1# .env 2DATABASE_URL="postgres://$(whoami)@localhost/my_database"
1// index.js 2console.log('DATABASE_URL', process.env.DATABASE_URL)
1$ dotenvx run --debug -- node index.js 2[dotenvx@0.14.1] injecting env (1) from .env 3DATABASE_URL postgres://yourusername@localhost/my_database
You need to keep .env
files in sync between machines, environments, or team members? Use dotenvx to encrypt your .env
files and safely include them in source control. This still subscribes to the twelve-factor app rules by generating a decryption key separate from code.
Use dotenvx to generate .env.ci
, .env.production
files, and more.
You need to deploy your secrets in a cloud-agnostic manner? Use dotenvx to generate a private decryption key that is set on your production server.
Use dotenvx
Run any environment locally. Create a .env.ENVIRONMENT
file and use --env-file
to load it. It's straightforward, yet flexible.
1$ echo "HELLO=production" > .env.production 2$ echo "console.log('Hello ' + process.env.HELLO)" > index.js 3 4$ dotenvx run --env-file=.env.production -- node index.js 5Hello production 6> ^^
or with multiple .env files
1$ echo "HELLO=local" > .env.local 2$ echo "HELLO=World" > .env 3$ echo "console.log('Hello ' + process.env.HELLO)" > index.js 4 5$ dotenvx run --env-file=.env.local --env-file=.env -- node index.js 6Hello local
Use dotenvx.
Add encryption to your .env
files with a single command. Pass the --encrypt
flag.
$ dotenvx set HELLO Production --encrypt -f .env.production
$ echo "console.log('Hello ' + process.env.HELLO)" > index.js
$ DOTENV_PRIVATE_KEY_PRODUCTION="<.env.production private key>" dotenvx run -- node index.js
[dotenvx] injecting env (2) from .env.production
Hello Production
See examples of using dotenv with various frameworks, languages, and configurations.
Dotenv exposes four functions:
config
parse
populate
decrypt
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.
1const result = dotenv.config() 2 3if (result.error) { 4 throw result.error 5} 6 7console.log(result.parsed)
You can additionally, pass options to config
.
Default: path.resolve(process.cwd(), '.env')
Specify a custom path if your file containing environment variables is located elsewhere.
1require('dotenv').config({ path: '/custom/path/to/.env' })
By default, config
will look for a file called .env in the current working directory.
Pass in multiple files as an array, and they will be parsed in order and combined with process.env
(or option.processEnv
, if set). The first value set for a variable will win, unless the options.override
flag is set, in which case the last value set will win. If a value already exists in process.env
and the options.override
flag is NOT set, no changes will be made to that value.
1require('dotenv').config({ path: ['.env.local', '.env'] })
Default: utf8
Specify the encoding of your file containing environment variables.
1require('dotenv').config({ encoding: 'latin1' })
Default: false
Turn on logging to help debug why certain keys or values are not being set as you expect.
1require('dotenv').config({ debug: process.env.DEBUG })
Default: false
Override any environment variables that have already been set on your machine with values from your .env file(s). If multiple files have been provided in option.path
the override will also be used as each file is combined with the next. Without override
being set, the first value wins. With override
set the last value wins.
1require('dotenv').config({ override: true })
Default: process.env
Specify an object to write your secrets to. Defaults to process.env
environment variables.
1const myObject = {} 2require('dotenv').config({ processEnv: myObject }) 3 4console.log(myObject) // values from .env 5console.log(process.env) // this was not changed or written to
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.
1const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2const buf = Buffer.from('BASIC=basic') 3const config = dotenv.parse(buf) // will return an object 4console.log(typeof config, config) // object { BASIC : 'basic' }
Default: false
Turn on logging to help debug why certain keys or values are not being set as you expect.
1const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2const buf = Buffer.from('hello world') 3const opt = { debug: true } 4const config = dotenv.parse(buf, opt) 5// expect a debug message because the buffer is not in KEY=VAL form
The engine which populates the contents of your .env file to process.env
is available for use. It accepts a target, a source, and options. This is useful for power users who want to supply their own objects.
For example, customizing the source:
1const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2const parsed = { HELLO: 'world' } 3 4dotenv.populate(process.env, parsed) 5 6console.log(process.env.HELLO) // world
For example, customizing the source AND target:
1const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2const parsed = { HELLO: 'universe' } 3const target = { HELLO: 'world' } // empty object 4 5dotenv.populate(target, parsed, { override: true, debug: true }) 6 7console.log(target) // { HELLO: 'universe' }
Default: false
Turn on logging to help debug why certain keys or values are not being populated as you expect.
Default: false
Override any environment variables that have already been set.
.env
file not loading my environment variables successfully?Most likely your .env
file is not in the correct place. See this stack overflow.
Turn on debug mode and try again..
1require('dotenv').config({ debug: true })
You will receive a helpful error outputted to your console.
.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.
.env
files?We recommend creating one .env
file per environment. Use .env
for local/development, .env.production
for production and so on. This still follows the twelve factor principles as each is attributed individually to its own environment. Avoid custom set ups that work in inheritance somehow (.env.production
inherits values form .env
for example). It is better to duplicate values if necessary across each .env.environment
file.
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 parsing engine currently supports the following rules:
BASIC=basic
becomes {BASIC: 'basic'}
#
are treated as comments#
marks the beginning of a comment (unless when the value is wrapped in quotes)EMPTY=
becomes {EMPTY: ''}
)JSON={"foo": "bar"}
becomes {JSON:"{\"foo\": \"bar\"}"
)trim
) (FOO= some value
becomes {FOO: 'some value'}
)SINGLE_QUOTE='quoted'
becomes {SINGLE_QUOTE: "quoted"}
)FOO=" some value "
becomes {FOO: ' some value '}
)MULTILINE="new\nline"
becomes{MULTILINE: 'new
line'}
BACKTICK_KEY=`This has 'single' and "double" quotes inside of it.`
)By default, 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.
If instead, you want to override process.env
use the override
option.
1require('dotenv').config({ override: true })
Your React code is run in Webpack, where the fs
module or even the process
global itself are not accessible out-of-the-box. process.env
can only be injected through Webpack configuration.
If you are using react-scripts
, which is distributed through create-react-app
, it has dotenv built in but with a quirk. Preface your environment variables with REACT_APP_
. See this stack overflow for more details.
If you are using other frameworks (e.g. Next.js, Gatsby...), you need to consult their documentation for how to inject environment variables into the client.
Yes! dotenv.config()
returns an object representing the parsed .env
file. This gives you everything you need to continue setting values on process.env
. For example:
1const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2const variableExpansion = require('dotenv-expand') 3const myEnv = dotenv.config() 4variableExpansion(myEnv)
import
?Simply..
1// index.mjs (ESM) 2import 'dotenv/config' // see https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv#how-do-i-use-dotenv-with-import 3import express from 'express'
A little background..
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.
What does this mean in plain language? It means you would think the following would work but it won't.
errorReporter.mjs
:
1import { Client } from 'best-error-reporting-service' 2 3export default new Client(process.env.API_KEY)
index.mjs
:
1// Note: this is INCORRECT and will not work 2import * as dotenv from 'dotenv' 3dotenv.config() 4 5import errorReporter from './errorReporter.mjs' 6errorReporter.report(new Error('documented example'))
process.env.API_KEY
will be blank.
Instead, index.mjs
should be written as..
1import 'dotenv/config' 2 3import errorReporter from './errorReporter.mjs' 4errorReporter.report(new Error('documented example'))
Does that make sense? It's a bit unintuitive, but it is how importing of ES6 modules work. Here is a working example of this pitfall.
There are two alternatives to this approach:
node --require dotenv/config index.js
(Note: you do not need to import
dotenv with this approach)config
first as outlined in this comment on #133Module not found: Error: Can't resolve 'crypto|os|path'
?You are using dotenv on the front-end and have not included a polyfill. Webpack < 5 used to include these for you. Do the following:
1npm install node-polyfill-webpack-plugin
Configure your webpack.config.js
to something like the following.
1require('dotenv').config() 2 3const path = require('path'); 4const webpack = require('webpack') 5 6const NodePolyfillPlugin = require('node-polyfill-webpack-plugin') 7 8module.exports = { 9 mode: 'development', 10 entry: './src/index.ts', 11 output: { 12 filename: 'bundle.js', 13 path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'dist'), 14 }, 15 plugins: [ 16 new NodePolyfillPlugin(), 17 new webpack.DefinePlugin({ 18 'process.env': { 19 HELLO: JSON.stringify(process.env.HELLO) 20 } 21 }), 22 ] 23};
Alternatively, just use dotenv-webpack which does this and more behind the scenes for you.
Try dotenv-expand
Use dotenvx
.env
file to code?Remove it, remove git history and then install the git pre-commit hook to prevent this from ever happening again.
brew install dotenvx/brew/dotenvx
dotenvx precommit --install
.env
file to a Docker build?Use the docker prebuild hook.
1# Dockerfile 2... 3RUN curl -fsS https://dotenvx.sh/ | sh 4... 5RUN dotenvx prebuild 6CMD ["dotenvx", "run", "--", "node", "index.js"]
See CONTRIBUTING.md
See CHANGELOG.md
These npm modules depend on it.
Projects that expand it often use the keyword "dotenv" on npm.
No vulnerabilities found.
Reason
no dangerous workflow patterns detected
Reason
no binaries found in the repo
Reason
license file detected
Details
Reason
1 commit(s) and 4 issue activity found in the last 90 days -- score normalized to 4
Reason
Found 3/16 approved changesets -- score normalized to 1
Reason
detected GitHub workflow tokens with excessive permissions
Details
Reason
dependency not pinned by hash detected -- score normalized to 0
Details
Reason
no effort to earn an OpenSSF best practices badge detected
Reason
security policy file not detected
Details
Reason
project is not fuzzed
Details
Reason
branch protection not enabled on development/release branches
Details
Reason
SAST tool is not run on all commits -- score normalized to 0
Details
Reason
13 existing vulnerabilities detected
Details
Score
Last Scanned on 2024-11-25
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