Environment variables not working with Typescript and NodeJS

Question

My process.env file has this:

DB_NAME = hello

When I run my index.ts file which has this:

import { MikroORM } from '@mikro-orm/core';
import { __prod__ } from './constants';
import { Post } from './entities/Post';
import microConfig from './mikro-orm.config';

console.log(`console log is : ${process.env.DB_NAME}`);
const main = async () => {
  const orm = await MikroORM.init(microConfig);

  const post = orm.em.create(Post, { title: 'my first post' }); 
  orm.em.persistAndFlush(post); 
};

main();

It gives the value of process.env.DB_NAME as undefined.

My package.json is set up as follows:

{
  "name": "shreddit-backend",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node dist/index.js",
    "dev": "nodemon dist/index.js",
    "watch": "tsc -w",
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^14.14.10",
    "nodemon": "^2.0.6",
    "ts-node": "^9.0.0",
    "typescript": "^4.1.2"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@mikro-orm/cli": "^4.3.2",
    "@mikro-orm/core": "^4.3.2",
    "@mikro-orm/migrations": "^4.3.2",
    "@mikro-orm/postgresql": "^4.3.2",
    "pg": "^8.5.1"
  },
  "mikro-orm": {
    "useTsNode": true,
    "configPaths": [
      "./src/mikro-orm.config.ts",
      "./dist/mikro-orm.config.js"
    ]
  }
}

I even tried using dotenv but that too wasn't able to fix the problem. Am I missing something? Thanks a lot.

What is supposed to be loading the process.env file into actual env vars? — jonrsharpe
– jonrsharpe, Commented Nov 29, 2020 at 12:23
Doesn't the process.env file automatically get loaded? Even if not I did try using dotenv and loading it specifically but that too didn't work. — Arsh Sharma
– Arsh Sharma, Commented Nov 29, 2020 at 12:25
Not just by Node, but I haven't used mikro ORM so maybe you expected that to do it? How exactly did you use dotenv? — jonrsharpe
– jonrsharpe, Commented Nov 29, 2020 at 12:26
You need to require dotenv and call .config at the start of your file — Dan Knights
– Dan Knights, Commented Nov 29, 2020 at 12:29

Tibebes. M · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-29 12:39:15Z

4

Doesn't the process.env file automatically get loaded?

No, You're going to have to use dotenv.config as the following (at the very start of the script).

require('dotenv').config({ path: './process.env' })

// the rest of your code

Note that you can simply call .config without any arguments should your file be named just '.env' (which the de facto standard name for such purposes) - and not 'process.env'

edited Nov 29, 2020 at 12:39

answered Nov 29, 2020 at 12:32

Tibebes. M

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1 Comment

Arsh Sharma Over a year ago

Thanks a lot! I was using the import syntax while using dotenv and I don't know why it wasn't working with that. Now it's all well and good! :D

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