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 ./.env
# This is a comment
ENV1=THANKS
ENV2=FOR ALL
ENV3=THE FISH
Package.json
{
"scripts": {
"test": "env-cmd mocha -R spec"
}
}
Terminal
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd node index.js
To use a custom env filename or path, pass the -f flag. This is a major breaking change from prior versions < 9.0.0
Terminal
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd -f ./custom/path/.env node index.js
Usage: _ [options] <command> [...args]
Options:
-v, --version output the version number
-e, --environments [env1,env2,...] The rc file environment(s) to use
-f, --file [path] Custom env file path (default path: ./.env)
--fallback Fallback to default env file path, if custom env file path not found
--no-override Do not override existing environment variables
-r, --rc-file [path] Custom rc file path (default path: ./.env-cmdrc(|.js|.json)
--silent Ignore any env-cmd errors and only fail on executed program failure.
--use-shell Execute the command in a new shell with the given environment
--verbose Print helpful debugging information
-x, --expand-envs Replace $var in args and command with environment variables
-h, --help output usage information
.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. Simply use the -e flag and provide which environments you wish to
use from the .env-cmdrc file. Using multiple environment names will merge the environment variables
together. Later environments overwrite earlier ones in the list if conflicting environment variables
are found.
.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 -e production node index.js
# Or for multiple environments (where `production` vars override `test` vars,
# but both are included)
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd -e test,production node index.js
--no-override optionPrevents overriding of existing environment variables on process.env and within the current
environment.
--fallback file usage optionIf the .env file does not exist at the provided custom path, then use the default
fallback location ./.env env file instead.
--use-shellExecutes the command within a new shell environment. This is useful if you want to string multiple commands together that share the same environment variables.
Terminal
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd -f ./test/.env --use-shell "npm run lint && npm test"
EnvCmd supports reading from asynchronous .env files. Instead of using a .env file, pass in a .js
file that exports either an object or a Promise resolving to an object ({ ENV_VAR_NAME: value, ... }). Asynchronous .rc
files are also supported using .js file extension and resolving to an object with top level environment
names ({ production: { ENV_VAR_NAME: value, ... } }).
Terminal
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd -f ./async-file.js node index.js
-x expands vars in argumentsEnvCmd supports expanding $var values passed in as arguments to the command. The allows a user
to provide arguments to a command that are based on environment variable values at runtime.
Terminal
# $USER will be expanded into the env value it contains at runtime
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd -x node index.js --user=$USER
--silent suppresses env-cmd errorsEnvCmd supports the --silent flag the suppresses all errors generated by env-cmd
while leaving errors generated by the child process and cli signals still usable. This
flag is primarily used to allow env-cmd to run in environments where the .env
file might not be present, but still execute the child process without failing
due to a missing file.
You can find examples of how to use the various options above by visiting the examples repo env-cmd-examples.
These are the currently accepted environment file formats. If any other formats are desired please create an issue.
.env as key=value.env.json Key/value pairs as JSON.env.js JavaScript file exporting an object or a Promise that resolves to an object.env-cmdrc as valid json or .env-cmdrc.json in execution directory with at least one environment { "dev": { "key1": "val1" } }.env-cmdrc.js JavaScript file exporting an object or a Promise that resolves to an object that contains at least one environmentThis 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 |
EnvCmdA function that executes a given command in a new child process with the given environment and options
options { object }
command { string }: The command to execute (node, mocha, ...)commandArgs { string[] }: List of arguments to pass to the command (['-R', 'Spec'])envFile { object }
filePath { string }: Custom path to .env file to read from (defaults to: ./.env)fallback { boolean }: Should fall back to default ./.env file if custom path does not existrc { object }
environments { string[] }: List of environment to read from the .rc filefilePath { string }: Custom path to the .rc file (defaults to: ./.env-cmdrc(|.js|.json))options { object }
expandEnvs { boolean }: Expand $var values passed to commandArgs (default: false)noOverride { boolean }: Prevent .env file vars from overriding existing process.env vars (default: false)silent { boolean }: Ignore any errors thrown by env-cmd, used to ignore missing file errors (default: false)useShell { boolean }: Runs command inside a new shell instance (default: false)verbose { boolean }: Prints extra debug logs to console.info (default: false)Promise<object> }: key is env var name and value is the env var valueGetEnvVarsA function that parses environment variables from a .env or a .rc file
options { object }
envFile { object }
filePath { string }: Custom path to .env file to read from (defaults to: ./.env)fallback { boolean }: Should fall back to default ./.env file if custom path does not existrc { object }
environments { string[] }: List of environment to read from the .rc filefilePath { string }: Custom path to the .rc file (defaults to: ./.env-cmdrc(|.js|.json))verbose { boolean }: Prints extra debug logs to console.info (default: false)Promise<object> }: key is env var name and value is the env var valueBecause sometimes it is just too cumbersome passing a lot of environment variables to scripts. It is 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 (uses 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 format according to ts-standardnpm test make sure all tests passnpm run test-cover make sure the coverage has not decreased from current master10.1.0
-x flag.
Note: only supports $var syntax--silent flag that ignores env-cmd errors and missing files and
only terminates on caught signals--verbose flag that prints additional debugging info to console.infocommander to 4.xsinon, nyc, and ts-standardFAQs
Executes a command using the environment variables in an env file
The npm package env-cmd receives a total of 784,119 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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