The env-cmd npm package allows you to easily set environment variables from a file or inline before running a command. This is particularly useful for managing different environments (development, testing, production) without hardcoding environment variables in your code.
Load environment variables from a file
This feature allows you to load environment variables from a specified file before running your command. The file should follow the standard .env format.
env-cmd -f ./path/to/.env node app.jsLoad environment variables from multiple files
You can load environment variables from multiple files. This is useful for layering configurations, such as having a base configuration and an environment-specific override.
env-cmd -f ./path/to/.env -f ./path/to/.env.local node app.jsInline environment variables
This feature allows you to set environment variables inline directly in the command. This is useful for quick tests or temporary overrides.
env-cmd -e 'NODE_ENV=production' node app.jsJSON configuration
You can also pass environment variables as a JSON object. This is useful for more complex configurations that might be easier to manage in JSON format.
env-cmd -e '{"NODE_ENV": "production", "API_KEY": "12345"}' node app.jsdotenv is a popular package for loading environment variables from a .env file into process.env. Unlike env-cmd, dotenv is typically used by requiring it in your code, rather than as a command-line tool.
cross-env allows you to set environment variables across different platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS) in a consistent manner. It is similar to env-cmd but focuses more on cross-platform compatibility.
dotenv-cli is a command-line interface for dotenv, allowing you to load environment variables from a .env file before running a command, similar to env-cmd. It provides a simpler interface but lacks some of the advanced features of env-cmd.
A simple node program for executing commands using an environment from an env file.
npm install env-cmd or npm install -g env-cmd
Environment file ./test/.env
# This is a comment
ENV1=THANKS
ENV2=FOR ALL
ENV3=THE FISH
Package.json
{
"scripts": {
"test": "env-cmd ./test/.env mocha -R spec"
}
}
or
Terminal
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd ./test/.env node index.js
--fallback file usage optionYou can specify an .env.local (or any name) env file, add that to your .gitignore and use that in your local development environment. Then you can use a regular .env file in root directory with production configs that can get committed to a private/protected repo. When env-cmd cannot find the .env.local file it will fallback to looking for a regular .env file.
Environment file ./.env.local
# This is a comment
ENV1=THANKS
ENV2=FOR ALL
ENV3=THE FISH
Fallback Environment file ./.env
# This can be used as an example fallback
ENV1=foo
ENV2=bar
ENV3=baz
ENV4=quux
ENV5=gorge
Package.json
uses ./.env as a fallback
{
"scripts": {
"test": "env-cmd --fallback ./.env.local mocha -R spec"
}
}
or
Terminal
# uses ./.env as a fallback, because it can't find `./.env.local`
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd ./.env.local node index.js
.rc file usageFor more complex projects, a .env-cmdrc file can be defined in the root directory and supports as many environments as you want. Instead of passing the path to a .env file to env-cmd, simply pass the name of the environment you want to use thats in your .env-cmdrc file. You may also use multiple environment names to merge env vars together.
.rc file .env-cmdrc
{
"development": {
"ENV1": "Thanks",
"ENV2": "For All"
},
"test": {
"ENV1": "No Thanks",
"ENV3": "!"
},
"production": {
"ENV1": "The Fish"
}
}
Terminal
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd production node index.js
# Or for multiple environments (where `production` vars override `test` vars,
# but both are included)
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd test,production node index.js
--no-override optionSometimes you want to set env variables from a file without overriding existing process env vars or shell env vars.
Terminal
ENV1=welcome ./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd --no-override ./test/.env node index.js
These are the currently accepted environment file formats. If any other formats are desired please create an issue.
key=value.env-cmdrc file (as valid json) in execution directoryThis lib attempts to follow standard bash path rules. The rules are as followed:
Home Directory = /Users/test
Working Directory = /Users/test/Development/app
| Type | Input Path | Expanded Path |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | /some/absolute/path.env | /some/absolute/path.env |
Home Directory with ~ | ~/starts/on/homedir/path.env | /Users/test/starts/on/homedir/path.env |
| Relative | ./some/relative/path.env or some/relative/path.env | /Users/test/Development/app/some/relative/path.env |
| Relative with parent dir | ../some/relative/path.env | /Users/test/Development/some/relative/path.env |
Because sometimes its just too cumbersome passing lots of environment variables to scripts. Its usually just easier to have a file with all the vars in them, especially for development and testing.
Do not commit sensitive environment data to a public git repo!
cross-env - Cross platform setting of environment scripts
Special thanks to cross-env for inspiration (use's the same cross-spawn lib underneath too).
I welcome all pull requests. Please make sure you add appropriate test cases for any features added. Before opening a PR please make sure to run the following scripts:
npm run lint checks for code errors and formats according to js-standardnpm test make sure all tests passnpm run test-cover make sure the coverage has not decreased from current master8.0.1
FAQs
Executes a command using the environment variables in an env file
The npm package env-cmd receives a total of 845,823 weekly downloads. As such, env-cmd popularity was classified as popular.
We found that env-cmd demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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