dotenv-hot 🔥

Dotenv that works with hot reloading.

Installation

npx dotenv-hot install

After running this, commit the staged changes.

Usage

npx dotenv-hot watch

Or, install with yarn add -D dotenv-hot and add to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "watch-env": "dotenv-hot watch"
  }
}

You can also run npx dotenv-hot --help for a full usage message.

To remove

To remove the added files and the git fiter, run:

npx dotenv-hot uninstall

How it works

When installed

• It creates several files:

  • .envFromFile.[ts|js] — when watch is run, the values from .env are loaded into this file as JS variable declarations. This file is fully maintained by dotenv-hot and should not be modified. By default this is added in <gitRepoRoot>/src, but can be customized with the --env-module-dir flag.

  • env.[ts|js] — this file handles importing the vars from .envFromFile.[ts|js], falling back on the values in process.env, and exporting. This is where you'll import env vars from, and you'll need to add new lines in this file when you have new env vars that you want to use in this way. By default this is also added in <gitRepoRoot>/src, but is also customizable with the --env-module-dir flag.

  • git-filter-dotenv-hot-env-module.sh — this is a script for use by git as a filter. This file also does not need to be modified. By default this is added in <gitRepoRoot>/scripts, but can be customized with the --scripts-dir flag.

• It tells git to use the filter in scripts for the .envFromFile.[ts|js] file. This prevents the local changes that are made to this file from being seen by git.

When run with watch

• It monitors the contents of .env, and if they change it updates .envFromFile.[ts|js]

When in prod

By default, any .env files will be ignored by this package in prod, since the dotenv-hot watch process will not be running. However, if you need to load values from a .env file in prod (no hot realoding here though), you can add dotenv and uncomment the relevant lines in env.[ts|js].