Darshan Hiranandani : How do I configure environment variables for a PHP application on App Platform?

Heya @darshanhiranandani,

I’ll recommend you to check the following docs :

https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/how-to/use-environment-variables/

It’s exactly what you are looking for

Hi Darshan,

Deploying a PHP application on DigitalOcean’s App Platform and configuring environment variables is straightforward!

Setting Up Environment Variables

1. Define Variables in App Platform:

   • Navigate to your app in the App Platform dashboard.
   • Go to the “Settings” tab and find the “Environment Variables” section.
   • Click on “Edit” to add new variables. Provide the key and value for each variable.

2. Use Environment Variables in PHP:

   • In your PHP code, you can access these variables using getenv() or $_ENV.

   $dbHost = getenv('DB_HOST');
   $dbUser = getenv('DB_USER');
   $dbPass = getenv('DB_PASS');
   

   Feel free to share more information about your PHP app setup and I can give you more details on this!

Some things that you should always consider are:

1. Sensitive Data Handling:

   • Never hardcode sensitive information such as database credentials, API keys, or secrets in your source code.
   • Use environment variables to store this information securely.

2. Use a .env File Locally:

   • During local development, use a .env file to store environment variables.
   • Use a package like vlucas/phpdotenv to load variables from the .env file into your PHP environment.

   require 'vendor/autoload.php';
   $dotenv = Dotenv\Dotenv::createImmutable(__DIR__);
   $dotenv->load();
   

3. Version Control Exclusions:

   • Make sure that your .env file is included in your .gitignore file to prevent it from being committed to version control.

   # .gitignore
   .env
   

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the official DigitalOcean documentation.

Hope this helps, and happy deploying!

- Bobby