Environment Variables

The launchpad-cli package supports loading environment variables from .env files using the --env and --env-cascade flags. This allows you to manage different configurations for various environments (development, staging, production, etc.).

Usage

To load environment variables from a .env file:

npx launchpad --env .env

You can also load multiple .env files in sequence:

npx launchpad --env .env.local --env .env

When loading multiple files, variables from later files will override those from earlier files if they share the same name.

Environment Cascading

The --env-cascade flag provides an automated way to load multiple environment files in a specific order. For example:

npx launchpad --env-cascade production

This will load files in the following order:

1. .env
2. .env.local
3. .env.production
4. .env.production.local

Best Practices

• Environment-Specific Files: Create separate .env files for different environments:

  • .env.development for development settings
  • .env.staging for staging settings
  • .env.production for production settings

• Security:

  • Keep sensitive data (API keys, passwords) in local .env files that aren't committed
  • Use .env.local for machine-specific overrides

• Documentation:

  • Create a .env.example file
  • List all required variables with example values
  • Include this file in version control

Example .env.example:

# API Configuration
API_KEY=your_api_key_here
API_URL=https://api.example.com

# Database Configuration
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname