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env-cmd

A simple node program for executing commands using an environment from an env file.

💾 Install

npm install env-cmd or npm install -g env-cmd

⌨️ Basic Usage

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

Using custom env file path

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

📜 Help

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

🔬 Advanced Usage

.rc file usage

For 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 option

Prevents overriding of existing environment variables on process.env and within the current environment.

--fallback file usage option

If the .env file does not exist at the provided custom path, then use the default fallback location ./.env env file instead.

--use-shell

Executes 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"

Asynchronous env file support

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 arguments

EnvCmd 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.

NOTE: You must escape the $ character with \ or your terminal might try to auto expand it before passing it to env-cmd.

Terminal

# $VAR will be expanded into the env value it contains at runtime
./node_modules/.bin/env-cmd -x node index.js --arg=\$VAR

or in package.json (use \\ to insert a literal backslash)

{
  "script": {
    "start": "env-cmd -x node index.js --arg=\\$VAR"
  }
}

--silent suppresses env-cmd errors

EnvCmd 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.

💿 Examples

You can find examples of how to use the various options above by visiting the examples repo env-cmd-examples.

💽️ Environment File Formats

These are the currently accepted environment file formats. If any other formats are desired please create an issue.

🗂 Path Rules

This lib attempts to follow standard bash path rules. The rules are as followed:

Home Directory = /Users/test

Working Directory = /Users/test/Development/app

TypeInput PathExpanded 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

🛠 API Usage

EnvCmd

A function that executes a given command in a new child process with the given environment and options

GetEnvVars

A function that parses environment variables from a .env or a .rc file

🧙 Why

Because 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! 🚨

🧬 Related Projects

cross-env - Cross platform setting of environment scripts

🎊 Special Thanks

Special thanks to cross-env for inspiration (uses the same cross-spawn lib underneath too).

📋 Contributing Guide

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: