anho-env-helper

A powerful CLI tool to manage and visualize environment variables across your projects. Perfect for developers working with multiple .env files in monorepos or complex project structures.

🚀 Features

• 🔍 Smart Discovery: Automatically finds all .env files in your project
• 📊 Beautiful Display: Clean, colored output showing all environment variables
• 🔄 Sync Checking: Compares .env vs .env.example files to find missing variables
• 🔧 Auto-Fix Sync Issues: Automatically add missing variables to .env files
• 📝 Template Generation: Create .env.example files from existing .env files
• 📋 Variable Listing: List all environment variables across all files
• 📦 Secure Export: Export env files to secure archives outside your project
• 🔒 Security Warnings: Identifies potential security issues with sensitive variables
• 🏗️ Context Aware: Understands frontend/backend/mobile project structures
• ⚡ Fast & Lightweight: Built with TypeScript and tested with Jest

📦 Installation

Install globally via npm:

npm install -g anho-env-helper

Or use directly with npx:

npx anho-env-helper

🎯 Usage

Show Available Commands

Run env-helper without arguments to see all available commands:

env-helper

Basic Scan

Scan the current directory and show all environment files:

env-helper scan

Verbose Output

Show detailed information including all variables:

env-helper scan --verbose
env-helper scan -v

Scan Specific Directory

env-helper scan --path /path/to/your/project
env-helper scan -p ./my-project

Check Sync Status

Find missing variables between .env and .env.example files:

env-helper sync
env-helper sync --path ./backend
env-helper sync --fix  # Automatically add missing variables

Security Scan

Check for potential security issues:

env-helper security
env-helper security -p ./my-project

Create Template Files

Generate .env.example files from existing .env files:

env-helper template
env-helper template --overwrite  # Replace existing .env.example files
env-helper template -p ./my-project

List Environment Variables

List all environment variables found across all env files:

env-helper list
env-helper list --unique           # Show only unique variable names
env-helper list --values           # Show variable values (sensitive masked)
env-helper list --unique --values  # Combined options

Export Environment Files

Securely export all env files to an archive outside your project:

env-helper export                  # Interactive prompt for output path
env-helper export -o ~/Desktop     # Export to specific directory
env-helper export --format zip     # Export as ZIP instead of tar.gz
env-helper export -p ./my-project -o ~/backups  # Export specific project

Disable Colors

env-helper scan --no-colors

📋 Example Output

Basic Scan

Environment Variables Analysis

Root:
  .env - 8 vars (4 sensitive)
  .env.example - 8 vars (4 sensitive)

Security Warnings:

.env:
  [HIGH] DATABASE_PASSWORD: Sensitive variable contains a value and file is not in .gitignore - this could be committed to version control
  [HIGH] JWT_SECRET: Sensitive variable contains a value and file is not in .gitignore - this could be committed to version control
  [HIGH] API_KEY: Sensitive variable contains a value and file is not in .gitignore - this could be committed to version control

Summary:
2 files, 16 variables
3 issue(s) found

Verbose Mode

Environment Variables Analysis

Root:
  .env - 8 vars (4 sensitive)
    NODE_ENV=production
    PORT=3000
    [SENSITIVE] DATABASE_PASSWORD=••••••••
    DATABASE_HOST=localhost
    [SENSITIVE] JWT_SECRET=••••••••
    [SENSITIVE] API_KEY=••••••••
    REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
    [SENSITIVE] STRIPE_SECRET=••••••••
  .env.example - 8 vars (4 sensitive)
    NODE_ENV=development
    PORT=3000
    DATABASE_HOST=your_host_here
    REDIS_URL=your_url_here
    [SENSITIVE] DATABASE_PASSWORD=••••••••
    [SENSITIVE] JWT_SECRET=••••••••
    [SENSITIVE] API_KEY=••••••••
    [SENSITIVE] STRIPE_SECRET=••••••••

Sync Check

Sync Issues:

Missing Variables:
  API_KEY (required by .env.example, missing from: .env)
  DATABASE_URL (required by .env.example, missing from: .env)

Extra Variables:
  OLD_CONFIG (in .env, not in .env.example)

Sync Fix

Sync Fix: Adding missing variables...

✅ Added 2 variables to .env

🎉 Successfully added 2 missing variables!
Remember to fill in the actual values for these variables.

Template Creation

Creating .env.example template files...

✅ Created .env.example
✅ Created client/.env.example
✅ Created server/.env.example

🎉 Successfully created 3 template file(s)!

Generated Template File

# Environment Variables Template
# Generated from .env
# Fill in the actual values for your environment

# Configuration Variables
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=3000
DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID=your_id_here
REDDIT_USERNAME=your_username_here

# Sensitive Variables (keep these secret!)
API_KEY=your_key_here
DATABASE_PASSWORD=your_password_here
JWT_SECRET=your_secret_here
REDIS_URL=your_url_here

List Variables (Unique)

Environment Variables List

Found 8 unique environment variables:

Configuration Variables:
  DATABASE_HOST (in 2 files)
  NODE_ENV (in 2 files)
  PORT (in 2 files)
  REDIS_URL (in 2 files)

Sensitive Variables:
  API_KEY (in 2 files)
  DATABASE_PASSWORD (in 2 files)
  JWT_SECRET (in 2 files)
  STRIPE_SECRET (in 2 files)

Export Files

🔒 For security, env files should be exported outside your project directory.

Export directory [/Users/user/Desktop]: 

Exporting environment files...

✅ Exported 2 environment files
📦 Archive created: /Users/user/Desktop/my-project-env-files-2025-09-29T10-04-30.tar.gz
📏 Archive size: 2.1 KB

Files exported:
  .env (4 sensitive)
  .env.example (4 sensitive)

🔒 Keep this archive secure - it contains sensitive environment data!

🏗️ Supported File Types

The tool automatically detects these environment file patterns:

• .env - Main environment file
• .env.local - Local overrides
• .env.development - Development environment
• .env.production - Production environment
• .env.example - Template file
• .env.template - Template file
• .environment.* - Alternative naming

🎯 Context Detection

Automatically detects project contexts based on directory structure:

• Frontend: client/, frontend/, web/, app/, ui/
• Backend: server/, backend/, api/, service/
• Mobile: mobile/, android/, ios/, react-native/
• Shared: shared/, common/, lib/, packages/

🔒 Security Features

• Identifies sensitive variables (passwords, keys, tokens, secrets)
• Masks sensitive values in output
• Warns about potential security issues
• Detects secrets in unexpected places

🧪 Development

Built with Test-Driven Development (TDD) using:

• TypeScript for type safety
• Jest for comprehensive testing
• Commander.js for CLI interface
• Chalk for beautiful terminal output

Running Tests

npm test
npm run test:watch
npm run test:coverage

Building

npm run build

📜 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

🐛 Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please create an issue on GitHub.

Made with ❤️ by Andreas Hoj