Question
ENV variables which work locally with a .env file, do not work on app platform at runtime
- Posted on February 25, 2021
- Node.jsDigitalOcean App PlatformVue.js
Asked by Todd Padwick
The Problem
Our node.js Nuxt.js app uses env variables connected with dotenv. When running in dev mode and in production build locally with a standard .env file, our env’s work fine.
In Digital Oceans App Platform, we have added the env variables to the app level env settings and deployed the app:
API_BASE_URL = https://api.example.com
But the env’s dont seem to be working.
How we’ve tested this
In one of our main JS file we have console logged an env as follows:
console.log(process.env.API_BASE_URL);
This log returns the correct env locally both in build and dev mode. But in App Platform, it returns undefined. So this suggests, the unique way in which App Platform handles env variables is not working with our set up (which I would have thought was pretty standard practice with a normal .env file in the root and using dotenv
Primary Question
Does anyone know what else is needed to get Digital Oceans App Platform env variables to work correctly at runtime?
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Generally you don’t check in your
.envfile into source control, so I suspect that thedotenvplugin that is bundled withnuxtjsis not triggering to inject them into yournuxt.config.js.The mapping of environment vars that get bundled is explicit in your
nuxt.config.jsunder theenvkey. From what I understand, thedotenvplugin is a convenience to generate that list dynamically based on your local.envfile. You should be able to configure it for app platform by listing them explicitly: https://nuxtjs.org/docs/2.x/configuration-glossary/configuration-env/Assuming you had set an environment variable called
API_BASE_URLon your app or your component, you could reference it in yournuxt.config.jsas follows:Please let me know if you have any other questions.