mirror of https://github.com/nuxt/nuxt.git
51 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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navigation.icon: IconFile
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title: ".env"
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description: "A .env file specifies your build/dev-time environment variables."
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head.title: ".env"
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---
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# .env File
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## At Build, Dev, and Generate Time
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Nuxt CLI has built-in [dotenv](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv) support in development mode and when running `nuxi build` and `nuxi generate`.
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In addition to any process environment variables, if you have a `.env` file in your project root directory, it will be automatically loaded **at build, dev, and generate time**, and any environment variables set there will be accessible within your `nuxt.config` file and modules.
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::alert
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If you want to use a different file - for example, to use `.env.local` or `.env.production` - you can do so by passing the `--dotenv` flag when using `nuxi`. For example:
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```bash
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npx nuxi dev --dotenv .env.local
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```
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Just as above, this will only apply in development mode and when running `nuxi build` and `nuxi generate`.
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::
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When updating `.env` in development mode, the Nuxt instance is automatically restarted to apply new values to the `process.env`.
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::alert{type=warning}
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Note that removing a variable from `.env` or removing the `.env` file entirely will not unset values that have already been set.
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::
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## Production Preview
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**After your server is built**, you are responsible for setting environment variables when you run the server. Your `.env` file will not be read at this point. How you do this is different for every environment.
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For local production preview purpose, we recommend using [`nuxi preview`](https://nuxt.com/docs/api/commands/preview) since using this command, the `.env` file will be loaded into `process.env` for convenience. Note that this command requires dependencies to be installed in the package directory.
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Or you could pass the environment variables as arguments using the terminal. For example, on Linux or macOS:
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```bash
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DATABASE_HOST=mydatabaseconnectionstring node .output/server/index.mjs
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```
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Note that for a purely static site, it is not possible to set runtime configuration config after your project is prerendered.
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:ReadMore{link="/docs/guide/going-further/runtime-config"}
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If you want to use environment variables set at build time but do not care about updating these down the line (or only need to update them reactively _within_ your app) then `appConfig` may be a better choice. You can define `appConfig` both within your `nuxt.config` (using environment variables) and also within an `~/app.config.ts` file in your project.
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:ReadMore{link="/docs/guide/directory-structure/app-config"}
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