Environment variables are not being defined while debugging

[brennanMKE]

I use VS Code to start a debugging session and in the configuration I define a value for PORT yet it is always undefined. I cannot seem to access these environment variables. Is there another way to access these environment variables?

var port = process.env.PORT || 8001;

Below is the launch.json that I am using for a sample project to try to access environment variables. I'd like to be able to use launch configurations to create multiple configurations with different environment variables.

{
    "version": "0.1.0",
    // List of configurations. Add new configurations or edit existing ones.
    "configurations": [
        {
            // Name of configuration; appears in the launch configuration drop down menu.
            "name": "Launch server.js",
            // Type of configuration.
            "type": "node",
            // Workspace relative or absolute path to the program.
            "program": "server.js",
            // Automatically stop program after launch.
            "stopOnEntry": false,
            // Command line arguments passed to the program.
            "args": [],
            // Workspace relative or absolute path to the working directory of the program being debugged. Default is the current workspace.
            "cwd": ".",
            // Workspace relative or absolute path to the runtime executable to be used. Default is the runtime executable on the PATH.
            "runtimeExecutable": null,
            // Optional arguments passed to the runtime executable.
            "runtimeArgs": ["--nolazy"],
            // Environment variables passed to the program.
            "env": {
                "NODE_ENV": "development",
                "PORT" : 8005
            },
            // Use JavaScript source maps (if they exist).
            "sourceMaps": false,
            // If JavaScript source maps are enabled, the generated code is expected in this directory.
            "outDir": null
        },
        {
            "name": "Attach",
            "type": "node",
            // TCP/IP address. Default is "localhost".
            "address": "localhost",
            // Port to attach to.
            "port": 5858,
            "sourceMaps": false
        }
    ]
}

[weinand]

The "env" attribute is a dictionary of strings. Please pass the PORT number as a string and not as a number.
We will try to improve the schema for "env" so that your case will be flagged as an error.

[brennanMKE]

Thanks. I saw lower in the launch config that there was another port value which is a number and was copying that instance. Is it possible to define these as numbers?