Use .env variables in Node.js

Install dotenv package

npm i dotenv

Create env files

Create a .env.example file in the root of your project and commit this to Git. This will serve as a template for the .env file.

FOO=
BAR=

Create a .env in the root of your project and make sure you don’t include it in Git (add .env to your .gitignore file):

FOO=foo
BAR=bar

Load env file

You have two options for loading your .env file.

1. Preload

$ node -r dotenv/config your_main_script.js

2. Load in application code

As early as possible in your application, import and configure dotenv:

require('dotenv').config();

console.log(process.env.FOO)'

Sources

• motdotla/dotenv – GitHub repo