How do I setup the dotenv file in Node.js?

Question

I am trying to use the dotenv NPM package and it is not working for me. I have a file config/config.js with the following content:

Answer 1

Working Solution:

If you are using webpack (which you definitely should), use a very handy plugin dotenv-webpack which solves the issue of reading environment variables from .env file

Make sure .env is in root directory of your project.

Steps to install the plugin:

1. npm i -D dotenv-webpack
2. In webpack.config file:

     const Dotenv = require('dotenv-webpack');
     module.exports = {
          ...
          plugins: [
                new Dotenv(),
                ...
          ],
          ...
     };

Now you can call any environment variable defined in .env file using process.env in any js file