.ENV

Use the .env File

a hidden file that is used to pass environment variables to your application.

This file is secret, no one but you can access it, and it can be used to store data that you want to keep private or hidden. For example, you can store API keys from external services or your database URI. You can also use it to store configuration options.

• environment variables are accessible from the app as process.env.VAR_NAME.

• process.env is a global Node object, and variables are passed as strings.

• By convention, the variable names are all uppercase, with words separated by an underscore

• .env is a shell file, so you don’t need to wrap names or values in quotes

• there cannot be space around the equals sign when you are assigning values to your variables, e.g. VAR_NAME=value

• Usually, you will put each variable definition on a separate line.

DOTENV

Loads environment variables from a .env file into process.env (opens new window)

https://www.npmjs.com/package/dotenv

npm i dotenv

As early as possible in your application, require and configure dotenv.

require('dotenv').config()

Create a .env file in the root directory

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USER=root
DB_PASS=s1mpl3

process.env now has the keys and values you defined in your .env file.

const db = require('db')
db.connect({
  host: process.env.DB_HOST,
  username: process.env.DB_USER,
  password: process.env.DB_PASS
})

convention: also add a .env.example file, that shows the structure

Github collection of .gitignore-templates (opens new window)