Managing .env files and setting variables

Manually set an environment variable on a Mac/Linux system

From a terminal on a Unix machine (Mac/Linux), you export the variable as a key value pair.

$export DATABASE_URL=postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/test?schema=public

Then check that it has been successfully set using printenv:

$printenv DATABASE_URL

postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/test?schema=public

Manually set an environment variable on a Windows system

The following examples illustrate how to set the environment variable (for the current user) using both Command Prompt (cmd.exe) and PowerShell, depending on your preference.

$set DATABASE_URL="postgresql://test:test@localhost:5432/test?schema=public"

Then check that it has been successfully set:

$set DATABASE_URL

Using dotenv-cli via command line

The following steps show how to use the dotenv-cli package to use an alternative file to contain environment variables than the default created by Prisma, which is then used to run Introspection.

1. Install dotenv-cli:

   npm install -g dotenv-cli

2. Create a file - for example, .env3 - in your project's root folder.

3. To use the .env3 file, you can use dotenv when you run any Prisma command and specify which .env file to use. The following example uses a file named .env3:

   dotenv -e .env3 -- npx prisma db pull

Note: dotenv doesn't pass the flags to the Prisma command by default, this is why the command includes two dashes -- before prisma, making it possible to use flags like --force, --schema or --preview-feature.

Using dotenv via application code

The following steps show how to use the dotenv package to reference an alternative environment file in your project's code.

1. Add dotenv to your project:

   npm install dotenv

2. Create a file - for example, .env3 - in your project's root folder.

3. To use the .env3 file, include a reference to dotenv at the top of your project's entry file.

   import { config } from 'dotenv'
   config({ path: '.env3' })