Environment Variable Loader
json_env is dotenv, but with JSON.
It loads an environment variables from a JSON file (.env.json per default) and starts a subprocess with them.
Storing configuration in the environment separate from code is based on The Twelve-Factor App methodology.
With homebrew:
shell
$ brew tap brodo/json_env
$ brew install json_env
With NPM
shell
$ npm i -g @brodo/json_env
With cargo:
shell
$ cargo install json_env
Or download the binaries for your platform on the releases page and put them in your $PATH.
Just run json_env with any program as a parameter:
shell
$ json_env my_program
Additional command line arguments that are passed to json_env are forwarded to the child process:
```shell
$ json_env echo "Test"
Test ```
.env.json:
json
{
"NODE_ENV": "DEV",
"MY_USER": "Carl",
"NUM_USERS": 10,
"nested": {
"hello": "world",
"boo": "far"
}
}
Shell:
shell
$ json_env env
MY_USER=Carl
NODE_ENV=DEV
NUM_USERS=10
nested={"boo":"far","hello":"world"}
[...]
You can include existing environment variables in your env file to expand them:
.env.json:
json
{
"MY_VAR": "$FOO",
"MY_OTHER_VAR": "User:$USER"
}
Shell:
shell
$ json_env -e env
FOO=Bar
MY_OTHER_VAR=User:Carl
MY_VAR=Bar
USER=Carl
[...]
There are some use cases where you already have environment variables defined in a JSON file but not at the root level. Take this Azure Function local.settings.json file for example:
```json
{
"IsEncrypted": false,
"Values": {
"FUNCTIONSWORKERRUNTIME": "
The Values property contains the environment variables we are interested in.
You can use this file to run app.js with the environment variables defined in Values
by providing the JSON Path .Values using the -p flag:
shell
$ json_env -c local.settings.json -p .Values node app.js
In some cases, it makes sense to use several config files. For example, one file can be checked into your VCS containing default values and a second one can be used to overwrite some of them:
defaults.json
json
{
"SERVER_URL": "https://example.com/foo",
"USER": "TO_BE_OVERWRITTEN",
"PASSWORD": "TO_BE_OVERWRITTEN"
}
my_settings.json
json
{
"USER": "admin",
"PASSWORD": "hunter2"
}
Use multiple -c flags to add several config files:
shell
$ json_env -c defaults.json -c my_settings.json env
PASSWORD=hunter2
SERVER_URL=https://example.com/foo
USER=admin
[...]
Later config files overwrite the earlier ones. You can also use multiple JSON paths, which are applied in order.
json_env is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.