generate-sample-env

A simple Node.js utility to generate a env.sample file from an existing .env file. This tool reads your .env file, extracts the environment variable names (ignoring comments and empty lines), and generates a sample .env file with placeholder values.

Installation

To use this utility, you can either clone the repository or install it globally using npm:

Global Installation

npm install -g generate-sample-env

Local Installation

If you prefer to install it locally in your project:

npm install --save-dev generate-sample-env

Usage

You can run the generate-sample-env script either by directly calling the binary or using npm scripts.

Command Line

To generate a sample .env file from your existing .env file, run the following command:

generate-sample-env [envFilePath] [sampleEnvFilePath]

• envFilePath (optional): Path to the existing .env file (default: .env).
• sampleEnvFilePath (optional): Path to output the generated env.sample file (default: env.sample).

Example:

generate-sample-env .env env.sample

This command will generate a env.sample file based on the env file in the current directory.

NPM Scripts

You can add the following scripts in your package.json to automate the process:

"scripts": {
  "generate-sample-env": "generate-sample-env .env env.sample"
}

Then, you can run the command with:

npm run generate-sample-env

Features

• Ignores comments and empty lines: Only the actual environment variables are extracted.
• Generates a sample .env file: The resulting env.sample will contain the same environment variable names, with VALUE_HERE as the placeholder for each variable.
• Customizable file paths: You can specify different input and output paths.

Example

Given an existing .env file like this:

# This is a comment
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=5432
# Another comment
API_KEY=your-api-key

Running the script will generate a env.sample file that looks like:

DB_HOST=VALUE_HERE
DB_PORT=VALUE_HERE
API_KEY=VALUE_HERE

Development

If you want to contribute or modify this tool, clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/generate-sample-env.git
cd generate-sample-env
npm install

Build

To compile the TypeScript code:

npm run build

Run Locally

To run the tool locally during development:

npm run dev
npm link

License

This project is licensed under the ISC License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Surajsinh Solanki

This README provides the necessary instructions for setting up, using, and contributing to the generate-sample-env utility.