dotenv file is not loading environment variables

Question

I have .env file at root folder file

NODE_ENV=development
NODE_HOST=localhost
NODE_PORT=4000
NODE_HTTPS=false
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USERNAME=user
DB_PASSWORD=user

And server.js file in the root/app/config/server.js folder. The first line of server.js file is

require('dotenv').config();

I also tried following:

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

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

However, my env variable are not loaded when I run the server.js file from command prompt

node root/app/config/server.js

If I use the visual studio and press F5, it loads!!

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, what I'm missing. Any suggestion is highly appreciate. Thanks.

Answer 1

How about use require('dotenv').config({path:__dirname+'/./../../.env'}) ?

Your problem seems to be the execution path.

Answer 2

This solved my issues in Node v8.14.1:

const path = require('path')
require('dotenv').config({ path: path.resolve(__dirname, '../.env') })

Simply doing require('dotenv').config({path:__dirname+'/./../../.env'}) resulted in a location that resolved as /some/path/to/env/./../../.env

Answer 3

Here is a single-line solution:

require('dotenv').config({ path: require('find-config')('.env') })

This will recurse parent directories until it finds a .env file to use.

You can also alternatively use this module called ckey inspired from one-liner above.

.env file from main directory.

# dotenv sample content
USER=sample@gmail.com
PASSWORD=iampassword123
API_KEY=1234567890

some js file from sub-directory

const ck = require('ckey');

const userName = ck.USER;     // sample@gmail.com
const password = ck.PASSWORD; // iampassword123
const apiKey   = ck.API_KEY;  // 1234567890

Answer 4

If you are invoking dotenv from a nested file, and your .env file is at the project root, the way you want to connect the dots is via the following:

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

Answer 5

One of the comments in @DavidP's answer notes logging the output of dotenv.config with

console.log(require("dotenv").config())

This will output a log of the config and display errors. In my case it indicated the config method was referencing the current directory instead of the parent directory which contained my .env file. I was able to reference that with the following

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

Answer 6

I've had this problem and it turned out that REACT only loads variables prefixed with REACT_APP_

VueJs can have a similar issue as it expects variables to be prefixed with: VUE_APP_

Answer 7

In the remote case that you arrive till this point, my issue was quite dumber: I wrongly named my env variables with colon ":" instead of equals "=". Rookie mistake but the resulting behavior was not loading the misspelled variables assignment.

# dotenv sample content

# correct assignment
USER=sample@gmail.com

# wrong assignment (will not load env var)
USER : sample@gmail.com

Answer 8

Be sure to load .env at the beginning of the entry file (e.g. index.js or server.js). Sometimes, the order of execution loads the environment variables after the services are initiated. And, by using __dirname, it can easily point to the file required relative to the current file.

Here my project structure is like this.

.
├─ src
│  └─ index.ts
└─ .env

// index.ts
import dotenv from 'dotenv';
import path from 'path';

dotenv.config({path: path.join(__dirname, '..', '.env')});

...

Answer 9

You can first debug by using:

console.log(require('dotenv').config())

In my scenario, my .env file is in root directory and I need to use it in a nested directory. The result gives me:

{
  parsed: {
    DATABASE_URL: 'mongodb://localhost/vidly',
    PORT: '8080'
  }
}

So I simply parse the result and store it in a variable:

const dotenv = require('dotenv').config().parsed;

Then access my DATABASE_URL like a JS object:

dotenv.DATABASE_URL

Answer 10

This solved the issue for me:

const path = require('path');
require('dotenv').config({
  path: path.resolve('config.env'),
});

Answer 11

Try this:

const dotenv = require('dotenv');
dotenv.config({ path: process.cwd() + '/config/config.env' });

worked for me idk how??

Answer 12

It took me a few head scratches, and the tip to log the output of the require statement to console was really helpful. console.log(require('dotenv').config());

Turns out I was running my app from my user/ directory with nodemon application_name/. and that was making dotenv look for the .env file in my home dir instead of the app's. I was lazy by skipping one cd and that cost me a few minutes.

Answer 13

  const path = require('path');
  const dotenv = require('dotenv');
  dotenv.config({ path: path.resolve(__dirname, '../config.env') })

Answer 14

I found an option debug: true to be sent in the config

dotenv.config({ debug: true });

which showed me the following:

[dotenv][DEBUG] "PORT" is already defined in `process.env` and was NOT overwritten

I added overwrite: true and got it working:

[dotenv][DEBUG] "PORT" is already defined in `process.env` and WAS overwritten

I know I might be too late answering, but decided to share my findings after hours of checking the documentation.

Answer 15

In my case .env was read fine, but not .env.local.

Updating package.json to name .env into .env.local ( cp ./.env.local .env) solved the problem:

  "myscript": "cp ./.env.local .env && node ./scripts/myscript.js"

Answer 16

if config.env file and index.js file both present in the same directory:

then, file: index.js

const path = require('path'); 

//  Set port from environment variables
dotenv.config({path: 'config.env'})
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8080

file: config.env:

PORT = 4000

Answer 17

You can need the path of the .env file relative to the current working directory from where the application was launched. You can create this path like this:

const path = require('path')
require('dotenv').config({path: path.relative(process.cwd(), path.join(__dirname,'.env'))});

process.cwd() returns the absolute path of the working directory.
__dirname returns the absolute path of the application.
path.join() adds the path of the .env-file to the path of the application. so if your .env file is nested deeper, just add the folders (e.g. path.join(__dirname, 'config', 'secret','.env'))
path.relative() creates the relative path.

Answer 18

Typescript.

if you are trying to resolve __dirname and you are compiling your source folder in another folder, make sure that you edit __dirname. in my case i am compiling ts in dist folder and env files are not located in dist folder, but in the root folder. so you should delete /dist from __dirname. To debug it, you can call error() function which returns error if there is problem with reading env file.

require('dotenv').config({
    path:  __dirname.replace('\dist','') + `${process.env.NODE_ENV}.env`
  }); # To debug .error()

another thing, when you set env variables make sure that following: no space between variable and (&&) as following

  "scripts": {
    "build": "npx tsc",
    "start": "set NODE_ENV=production&& node dist/index.js",
  },

Answer 19

I had a problem with the file encoding of the .env file in windows. It was encoded in UTF-16LE. The file was parsed but it was considered empty. After i converted the .env file to UTF-8 everything works as expected.

Answer 20

One time I have got the same problem. Dotenv did not load .env file. I tried to fix this problem with a path config, to put .env file in a root folder, to put .env in the folder where the file is running and nothing helps me. Then I just trashed Node_modules folder, reinstall all dependencies and it works correctly

Answer 21

I'am using:

import findUp from 'find-up';
dotenv.config({ path: findUp.sync('.env') });

Answer 22

What worked for me using Playwright / typescript:

1 create file and place at the root of the project: global-setup.ts add inside:

async function globalSetup() {
  // Configure ENV variables
  require('dotenv').config()
}

export default globalSetup

2 Then use this file into playwright.config.ts

as: globalSetup: require.resolve('./global-setup'),

In this way, global conf is created, and pickup in every single test.

Answer 23

If you are installed dotenv as production dependency. Then, it may not work properly. The .env file is commonly utilized during development when using dotenv to import environment variables into the application's environment. So,

npm install --save-dev dotenv

Not that:

npm install dotenv

To working properly of dotenv library, you always need to mention that code:

import dotenv from "dotenv"
dotenv.config();

In Top of the file like this:

If you put that configuration in the middle. Then, you will see some wired behavior. Like, in some file env variable working file. But, in some, it is not.

Answer 24

Use only absolute path if you are using some other tool(installed globally) to call your config file somewhere ...

require('dotenv').config({
  path: '/path/to/my/project/.env',
});

Answer 25

One silly mistake I did was i used colon ":" in place of "="

I used below

USER:root

But it should be

USER=root

Answer 26

If nothing helps put your .env outside the src folder if you have folder structure like

-src/
  - index.js
  - env.js (where you call dotenv.config)
  // you may call dotenv.config anywhere but entry point is best.

.env (file outside the src folder)

Answer 27

The fastest fix here, just into seconds, add the variables to the platform you are using in my case render.com

Answer 28

My failer was the path keyword . should be the P not capital Letter . that was so funny