Hiding Node.js Environment Varaibles

Using the4 dotenv Nopde.js package to load variables from an .env file.

1. Create a file called .env and place it in your project folder.

2. Put your actual database credentials and API keys in your `.env``file:

   DB_HOST=<DB_HOST>
   DB_DATABASE=<DB_DATABASE>
   DB_USERNAME=<DB_USERNAME>
   DB_PASSWORD=<DB_PASSWORD>
   
   API_SECRET=real_api_key

3. Create a second copy of your .env file and name it .env.sample. Use this file to provide instructions to the next programmer using your project code:

   DB_HOST=localhost
   DB_DATABASE=database
   DB_USERNAME=username
   DB_PASSWORD=password
   
   API_SECRET=api_key

4. Make sure your GitHub repo does not include the file named .env. In your .gitignore file add:

   .env
   

Note

I have excluded this step in this repo so you can view both the .env and .env.sample files.

5. Add dotenv to your project:

   npm add dotenv
   npm i
   

6. Start the Node.js app:

   node app.js
   

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Project Stack

This project uses Node.js.

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Repo Resources

• Node.js
• dotenv