Toggle between multiple .env files like .env.development with node.js

Question

I want to use separate .env files for each mode (development, production, etc...). When working on my vue.js projects, I can use files like .env.development or .env.production to get different values for the same env key. (example: in .env.development: FOO=BAR and in .env.production: FOO=BAZ, in development mode process.env.FOO would be BAR, in production i'd be BAZ).

I'm working on an Express server and want to use these same kinds of .env files to store the port, db uri, user, pwd...

I know I can edit the scripts in package.json like this:

"scripts": {
    "start": "NODE_ENV=development PORT=80 node ./bin/www",
    "start-prod": "NODE_ENV=production PORT=81 node ./bin/www"
}

but this gets messy when using multiple variables.

I've tried using dotenv but it seems like you can only use the .env file. Not .env.development and .env.production.

Can I use the dotenv package or do I need another one? Or could I do this without any package at all?

Answer 1

You can specify which .env file path to use via the path option with something like this:

require('dotenv').config({ path: `.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}` })

Answer 2

The above two answers are both slightly off. let me explain. Answer from KyleMit below is missing ./ to indicate current directory.

• the ./ indicates current directory in Node.js. The Second . prior to env indicates a hidden/private file. Thats why in KyleMits answer if the env file was not in the root of the PC it would never find it. The simplest way to do it in my opinion is to add a ./ this says "hey computer look in my current directory for this file".

//look in my current directory for this  hidden file. 
// List hidden files in dir: ls -a
 
require('dotenv').config({ path: `./.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}` })


//I reccomend doing a console.log as well to make sure the names match*
console.log(`./.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}`)

Answer 3

I'm using the custom-env npm package to handle multiple .env files. Just put this at the top of your code:

require('custom-env').env();

and it will load environment variables from the file .env.X, where X is the value of you NODE_ENV environment variable. For example: .env.test or .env.production.

Here is a nice tutorial on how to use the package.

Answer 4

For TypeScript:

import dotenv from 'dotenv'
dotenv.config({ path: `.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}` })

Answer 5

From answers from above: This is the final result that worked for me.

.env.dev file in src dir.

import path from 'path';

dotenv.config({ path: path.join(__dirname, `./.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}`)});

Answer 6

This work for me:

File .env

NODE_ENV=dev
DB_HOST=localhost

File .env.dev

DB_HOST=dev-host
DEV_VAR=new-variable

Code

require("dotenv").config();

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "dev") {
  const result = require("dotenv").config({ path: ".env.dev" });

  process.env = {
    ...process.env,
    ...result.parsed,
  };
}

const dbConfig = {
  host: process.env.DB_HOST,
};

console.log(dbConfig.host);
console.log(process.env.DEV_VAR);

Answer 7

Install the dotenv package:

npm install dotenv

We need to get the .env file name based on NODE_ENV, it might be undefined, set default to development:

const envFileName = `.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV || "development"}`

Import the dotenv package and use it:

dotenv.config({ path: envFileName });

Answer 8

The official doc of dotenv does not recommend having multiple .env files.

"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."