Stop Breaking Production with Missing Env Vars

The Problem

You're coding away, and you add a new feature that needs an API key.

// src/payment.js
const stripeKey = process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY; // You added this locally
await processPayment(stripeKey);

It works on your machine. You push the code. Your teammate pulls it, runs the app, and it crashes. Why? Because you forgot to add STRIPE_SECRET_KEY to .env.example.

The Solution: dotenv-align

dotenv-align scans your code. If you use a process.env variable that isn't in your .env.example, it warns you immediately.

1. Install it

npm install -g dotenv-align

2. Run it

dotenv-align check

What you see:

Tracing environment variables...

Found 1 untraced variable:

┌────────────────┬───────────┬──────────────────────┐
│ Variable       │ Status    │ Location             │
├────────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────┤
│ STRIPE_SECRET  │ MISSING   │ src/payment.js:12    │
└────────────────┴───────────┴──────────────────────┘

Tip: Add STRIPE_SECRET to .env.example to fix this.

Features at a Glance

• Multi-File Support: Checks against .env.example, .env.staging, .env.production automatically.
• Smart Scanning: Ignores commented-out code.
• Zero Config: Just run it. It finds your files.

CLI Reference

dotenv-align check Scans your code and verifies env vars against your example files.

• -e, --env <files...>: Specify exact env files to check against.
  • Example: dotenv-align check -e .env.development .env.staging

dotenv-align report Generates a file report of your environment variable usage.

• -f, --format <type>: Format of the report (json or txt). Default: json.
• -o, --output <path>: Path to save the report. Default: ./reports/env-report.json.
• -e, --env <files...>: Specify env files to include in the report.

Global Options

• -h, --help: Display help information.
• -V, --version: Output the version number.

Get Started

Don't let missing env vars waste your team's time.

npx dotenv-align check