Update Env Utils

A TypeScript utility package for managing environment variables with both programmatic API and CLI interface.

Installation

Global Installation (for CLI usage)

npm install -g update-env-utils

Local Installation (for programmatic usage)

npm install update-env-utils

CLI Usage

After global installation, you can use the update-env command:

Set an environment variable

update-env set API_KEY "your-api-key-here"
update-env set DATABASE_URL "postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb"

Get an environment variable

update-env get API_KEY

List all environment variables

update-env list

Delete an environment variable

update-env delete API_KEY

Use a custom .env file

update-env set API_KEY "value" --file .env.production
update-env list --file .env.development

Programmatic Usage

Basic Usage

import EnvUpdater from 'update-env-utils';

const envUpdater = new EnvUpdater('.env');

// Set a variable
envUpdater.updateVar('API_KEY', 'your-api-key');

// Get a variable
const apiKey = envUpdater.getVar('API_KEY');

// List all variables
envUpdater.listVars();

// Delete a variable
envUpdater.deleteVar('API_KEY');

Using with Custom File Path

import EnvUpdater from 'update-env-utils';

const prodEnv = new EnvUpdater('.env.production');
prodEnv.updateVar('NODE_ENV', 'production');

const devEnv = new EnvUpdater('.env.development');
devEnv.updateVar('NODE_ENV', 'development');

API Reference

EnvUpdater Class

Constructor

• new EnvUpdater(envFilePath?: string) - Creates a new instance with optional custom .env file path (defaults to '.env')

Methods

• readEnvFile(): Record<string, string> - Reads and parses the environment file
• writeEnvFile(envVars: Record<string, string>): void - Writes environment variables to file
• updateVar(key: string, value: string): void - Updates or creates an environment variable
• getVar(key: string): string | undefined - Gets the value of an environment variable
• listVars(): void - Lists all environment variables to console
• deleteVar(key: string): void - Deletes an environment variable

Development

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd update-env

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Watch for changes during development
npm run dev

Scripts

• npm run build - Compile TypeScript to JavaScript
• npm run dev - Watch mode for development
• npm run clean - Remove dist directory
• npm run start - Run the compiled main file
• npm test - Run tests (placeholder)

Publishing to npm

First-time setup

1. Create an npm account at https://www.npmjs.com/
2. Login to npm:

   npm login

Publishing process

# Build the project
npm run build

# Publish (this will automatically run prepublishOnly script)
npm publish

# Or use the version bump scripts:
npm run publish:patch  # 1.0.0 -> 1.0.1
npm run publish:minor  # 1.0.0 -> 1.1.0
npm run publish:major  # 1.0.0 -> 2.0.0

Before publishing checklist

• Update version in package.json
• Update changelog/release notes
• Test the CLI commands locally
• Run npm run build successfully
• Verify the dist/ directory contains compiled files
• Test installation locally: npm pack and npm install -g ./update-env-utils-1.0.0.tgz

Project Structure

update-env/
├── src/
│   └── main.ts          # Main TypeScript source file
├── bin/
│   └── cli.js           # CLI executable
├── dist/                # Compiled JavaScript (generated)
├── package.json         # Package configuration
├── tsconfig.json        # TypeScript configuration
└── README.md           # This file

License

MIT

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request