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# dotenv |
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<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/motdotla/dotenv/master/dotenv.png" alt="dotenv" align="right" /> |
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Dotenv is a zero-dependency module that loads environment variables from a `.env` file into [`process.env`](https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/process.html#process_process_env). Storing configuration in the environment separate from code is based on [The Twelve-Factor App](http://12factor.net/config) methodology. |
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[![BuildStatus](https://img.shields.io/travis/motdotla/dotenv/master.svg?style=flat-square)](https://travis-ci.org/motdotla/dotenv) |
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[![NPM version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/dotenv.svg?style=flat-square)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/dotenv) |
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[![js-standard-style](https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20style-standard-brightgreen.svg?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/feross/standard) |
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[![Coverage Status](https://img.shields.io/coveralls/motdotla/dotenv/master.svg?style=flat-square)](https://coveralls.io/github/motdotla/dotenv?branch=coverall-intergration) |
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## Install |
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```bash |
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npm install dotenv --save |
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``` |
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## Usage |
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As early as possible in your application, require and configure dotenv. |
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```javascript |
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require('dotenv').config() |
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``` |
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Create a `.env` file in the root directory of your project. Add |
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environment-specific variables on new lines in the form of `NAME=VALUE`. |
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For example: |
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``` |
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DB_HOST=localhost |
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DB_USER=root |
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DB_PASS=s1mpl3 |
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``` |
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That's it. |
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`process.env` now has the keys and values you defined in your `.env` file. |
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```javascript |
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var db = require('db') |
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db.connect({ |
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host: process.env.DB_HOST, |
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username: process.env.DB_USER, |
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password: process.env.DB_PASS |
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}) |
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``` |
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### Preload |
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If you are using iojs-v1.6.0 or later, 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. |
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```bash |
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$ node -r dotenv/config your_script.js |
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``` |
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The configuration options below are supported as command line arguments in the format `dotenv_config_<option>=value` |
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```bash |
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$ node -r dotenv/config your_script.js dotenv_config_path=/custom/path/to/your/env/vars |
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``` |
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## Config |
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_Alias: `load`_ |
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`config` will read your .env file, parse the contents, assign it to |
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[`process.env`](https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/process.html#process_process_env), |
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and return an Object with a _parsed_ key containing the loaded content or an _error_ key if it failed. |
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You can additionally, pass options to `config`. |
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### Options |
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#### Path |
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Default: `.env` |
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You can specify a custom path if your file containing environment variables is |
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named or located differently. |
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```js |
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require('dotenv').config({path: '/custom/path/to/your/env/vars'}) |
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``` |
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#### Encoding |
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Default: `utf8` |
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You may specify the encoding of your file containing environment variables |
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using this option. |
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```js |
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require('dotenv').config({encoding: 'base64'}) |
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``` |
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## Parse |
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The engine which parses the contents of your file containing environment |
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variables is available to use. It accepts a String or Buffer and will return |
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an Object with the parsed keys and values. |
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```js |
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var dotenv = require('dotenv') |
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var buf = new Buffer('BASIC=basic') |
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var config = dotenv.parse(buf) // will return an object |
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console.log(typeof config, config) // object { BASIC : 'basic' } |
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``` |
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### Rules |
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The parsing engine currently supports the following rules: |
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- `BASIC=basic` becomes `{BASIC: 'basic'}` |
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- empty lines are skipped |
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- lines beginning with `#` are treated as comments |
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- empty values become empty strings (`EMPTY=` becomes `{EMPTY: ''}`) |
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- single and double quoted values are escaped (`SINGLE_QUOTE='quoted'` becomes `{SINGLE_QUOTE: "quoted"}`) |
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- new lines are expanded if in double quotes (`MULTILINE="new\nline"` becomes |
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``` |
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{MULTILINE: 'new |
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line'} |
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``` |
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- inner quotes are maintained (think JSON) (`JSON={"foo": "bar"}` becomes `{JSON:"{\"foo\": \"bar\"}"`) |
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## FAQ |
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### Should I commit my `.env` file? |
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No. We **strongly** recommend against committing your `.env` file to version |
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control. It should only include environment-specific values such as database |
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passwords or API keys. Your production database should have a different |
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password than your development database. |
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### Should I have multiple `.env` files? |
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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. |
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> 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. |
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> |
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> – [The Twelve-Factor App](http://12factor.net/config) |
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### What happens to environment variables that were already set? |
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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. |
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If you want to override `process.env` you can do something like this: |
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```javascript |
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const fs = require('fs') |
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const dotenv = require('dotenv') |
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const envConfig = dotenv.parse(fs.readFileSync('.env.override')) |
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for (var k in envConfig) { |
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process.env[k] = envConfig[k] |
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} |
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``` |
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### Can I customize/write plugins for dotenv? |
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For `[email protected]`: Yes. `dotenv.config()` now returns an object representing |
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the parsed `.env` file. This gives you everything you need to continue |
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setting values on `process.env`. For example: |
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```js |
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var dotenv = require('dotenv') |
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var variableExpansion = require('dotenv-expand') |
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const myEnv = dotenv.config() |
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variableExpansion(myEnv) |
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``` |
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### What about variable expansion? |
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For `[email protected]`: Use [dotenv-expand](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv-expand). |
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For `[email protected]`: We haven't been presented with a compelling use case for expanding variables and believe it leads to env vars that are not "fully orthogonal" as [The Twelve-Factor App](http://12factor.net/config) outlines.<sup>[[1](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/issues/39)][[2](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv/pull/97)]</sup> Please open an issue if you have a compelling use case. |
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## Contributing Guide |
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See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) |
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## Change Log |
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See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) |
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## License |
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See [LICENSE](LICENSE) |
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## Who's using dotenv |
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Here's just a few of many repositories using dotenv: |
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* [jaws](https://github.com/jaws-framework/jaws-core-js) |
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* [node-lambda](https://github.com/motdotla/node-lambda) |
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* [resume-cli](https://www.npmjs.com/package/resume-cli) |
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* [phant](https://www.npmjs.com/package/phant) |
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* [adafruit-io-node](https://github.com/adafruit/adafruit-io-node) |
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* [mockbin](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mockbin) |
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* [and many more...](https://www.npmjs.com/browse/depended/dotenv) |
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## Go well with dotenv |
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Here's some projects that expand on dotenv. Check them out. |
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* [require-environment-variables](https://github.com/bjoshuanoah/require-environment-variables) |
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* [dotenv-safe](https://github.com/rolodato/dotenv-safe) |
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* [envalid](https://github.com/af/envalid) |
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