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dotenv-vault NPM Version

dotenv-vault

Manage your secrets using dotenv-vault's all-in-one toolkit. Say goodbye to scattered secrets across multiple platforms and tools. The #1 secrets manager for .env files.

Deploy your secrets anywhere with modern encryption and sync your .env files with a single command.

Quickstart ⚡️

🌱 Install

apple icon

Install via Homebrew

$ brew install dotenv-org/brew/dotenv-vault
$ dotenv-vault help

windows icon

Install on Windows

docker icon

Install and run commands via Docker

$ docker run -w $(pwd) -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -it dotenv/dotenv-vault help

npm icon

Install and run commands via npx

$ npx dotenv-vault help

Learn more about installation

🏗️ Usage

Push your .env file.

$ dotenv-vault push

Commit your .env.vault file safely to code.

$ git add .env.vault
$ git commit -am "Add .env.vault"
$ git push

Pull the latest .env changes.

$ git pull
$ dotenv-vault pull

That's it! You securely backed-up and synced your .env file.

Learn more about usage

🚀 Deploying

Encrypt your .env.vault file.

$ dotenv-vault build

Fetch your production DOTENV_KEY.

$ dotenv-vault keys production
remote:   Listing .env.vault decryption keys... done
dotenv://:key_1234…@dotenv.org/vault/.env.vault?environment=production

Set DOTENV_KEY on your server.

# heroku example
heroku config:set DOTENV_KEY=dotenv://:key_1234…@dotenv.org/vault/.env.vault?environment=production

Commit your .env.vault file safely to code and deploy.

$ git add .env.vault
$ git commit -am "Update .env.vault"
$ git push
$ git push heroku main # heroku example

That's it! On deploy, your .env.vault file will be decrypted and its secrets injected as environment variables – just in time.

Learn more about deploying

🌴 Manage Multiple Environments

Sync your .env file. Run the push command and follow the instructions. learn more

$ dotenv-vault push

After you've pushed your .env file, dotenv-vault automatically sets up multiple environments. Manage multiple environments with the included UI. learn more

$ dotenv-vault open production

That's it! Manage your ci, staging, and production secrets from there. Rebuild your .env.vault file and redeploy when ready.

Would you also like to pull your production .env to your machine? Run the command:

$ dotenv-vault pull production

ℹ️ 🔐 Vault Managed vs 💻 Locally Managed: The above example, for brevity's sake, used the 🔐 Vault Managed solution to manage your .env.vault file. You can instead use the 💻 Locally Managed solution. See the faq further below. Our vision is that other platforms and orchestration tools adopt the .env.vault standard as they did the .env standard. We don't expect to be the only ones providing tooling to manage and generate .env.vault files.

Learn more about environments

📚 Examples

Vercel Vercel Heroku Heroku GitHub GitHub Actions GitLab GitLab CI/CD
Netlify Netlify Docker Docker Docker Compose Docker Compose CircleCI CircleCI
Serverless Serverless Railway Railway Render Render Travis CI Travis CI
Google Cloud Google Cloud Fly.io Fly.io dotenv-vault + Slack Slack Buddy Buddy
Cloud66 Cloud66 Digital Ocean Digital Ocean Dagger Dagger Bitbucket Bitbucket
Node.js Node.js Pnpm pnpm Express Express NextJS NextJS
Remix Remix Astro Astro Rails Rails Ruby Ruby
Sinatra Sinatra Flask Flask Python Python Supabase Supabase
Pulumi Pulumi Angular Angular Nuxt Nuxt Vite Vite

See more integration guides

📖 Commands

$ dotenv-vault help

new

Create your project at Dotenv Vault.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault new
ARGUMENTS

[DOTENV_VAULT]

Set .env.vault identifier. Defaults to generated value.

$ npx dotenv-vault new vlt_6beaae5…
local:    Adding .env.vault (DOTENV_VAULT)... done
local:    Added to .env.vault (DOTENV_VAULT=vlt_6beaa...)
FLAGS

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.


login

Log in to dotenv-vault.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault login
ARGUMENTS

[DOTENV_ME]

Set .env.me identifier. Defaults to generated value.

$ npx dotenv-vault login me_00c7fa…
FLAGS

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault login -y

logout

Log out of dotenv-vault.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault logout
FLAGS

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault logout -y

push

Push .env securely.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault push
ARGUMENTS

[ENVIRONMENT]

Set environment to push to. Defaults to development

$ npx dotenv-vault push production

[FILENAME]

Set input filename. Defaults to .env for development and .env.{environment} for other environments

$ npx dotenv-vault push production .env.production
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault push --dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault push -y

pull

Pull .env securely.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault pull
ARGUMENTS

[ENVIRONMENT]

Set environment to pull from. Defaults to development

$ npx dotenv-vault pull production

[FILENAME]

Set output filename. Defaults to .env for development and .env.{environment} for other environments

$ npx dotenv-vault pull production .env.production
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault pull --dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault pull -y

If you want to pull a specific version you can do so. For example,

npx dotenv-vault pull development@v14

open

Open project page.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault open
ARGUMENTS

[ENVIRONMENT]

Set environment to open to. Defaults to development.

$ npx dotenv-vault open production
FLAGS

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault open -y

whoami

Display the current logged in user.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault whoami
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault whoami dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

build

Build .env.vault file.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault build
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault build dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault build -y

keys

List .env.vault decryption keys.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault keys
ARGUMENTS

[ENVIRONMENT]

Set environment. Defaults to all.

$ npx dotenv-vault keys production…
remote:   Listing .env.vault decryption keys... done
dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=production
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault keys dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault keys -y

rotatekey

Rotate DOTENV_KEY.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault rotatekey production
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault rotatekey dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault rotatekey -y

decrypt

Decrypt .env.vault locally.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault decrypt dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=development
ARGUMENTS

[DOTENV_KEY]

Set DOTENV_KEY to decrypt .env.vault. Development key will decrypt development, production will decrypt production, and so on.

$ npx dotenv-vault decrypt dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=development

versions

List version history.

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault versions
ARGUMENTS

[ENVIRONMENT]

Set environment to check versions against. Defaults to development.

$ npx dotenv-vault versions production
FLAGS

-m, --dotenvMe

Pass .env.me (DOTENV_ME) credential directly (rather than reading from .env.me file)

$ npx dotenv-vault versions dotenvMe=me_b1831e…

-y, --yes

Automatic yes to prompts. Assume yes to all prompts and run non-interactively.

$ npx dotenv-vault versions -y

If you want to pull a specific version you can do so. For example,

npx dotenv-vault pull development@v14

local build

Build .env.vault from local only

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault local build

This will encrypt the contents of your .env file and any .env.ENVIRONMENT files you have locally into your .env.vault file.

local decrypt

Decrypt .env.vault from local only

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault local decrypt dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=development
ARGUMENTS

[DOTENV_KEY]

Set DOTENV_KEY to decrypt .env.vault. Development key will decrypt development, production will decrypt production, and so on.

$ npx dotenv-vault local decrypt dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=development

local keys

List .env.vault local decryption keys from .env.keys file

Example:

$ npx dotenv-vault local keys
local:    Listing .env.vault decryption keys from .env.keys... done
 environment DOTENV_KEY
 ─────────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 develompent dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.va…
 production  dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.va…
ARGUMENTS

[ENVIRONMENT]

Set ENVIRONMENT to output a single environment's DOTENV_KEY.

$ npx dotenv-vault local keys development…
local:    Listing .env.vault decryption keys from .env.keys... done
dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=development

❓ FAQ

Why is the .env.vault file not decrypting my environment variables successfully?

First, make sure you are using [email protected] or greater. (If you are using a different language make sure you have installed one of its libraries.)

Second, test decryption is working locally.

$ dotenv-vault decrypt dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=production
# outputs environment variables

Third, test decryption on boot is working locally.

$ DOTENV_KEY=dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=production npm start
# boots your app with production envs

Should I commit my .env.vault file?

Yes. It is safe and recommended to do so. DO commit your .env.vault file to code. DO NOT commit your .env file. The .env.vault file contains ciphertext generated using AES-256. AES-256 is trusted by the US Government to transmit top-secret information and has a brute-force timescale of about a billion years.

I accidentally leaked my DOTENV_KEY, what can I do?

Does that attacker also have access to your .env.vault file?

  • No: good, the attacker cannot do any damage. They need both the DOTENV_KEY and .env.vault file to access your secrets. This extra layer of security sets the .env.vault file apart as a superior solution to other SecretOps solutions.
  • Yes: IMMEDIATELY start rotating your secrets at your third-party API providers. This scenario would be the same no matter what SecretOps solution you use.

After completing the above, rotate your DOTENV_KEY using the rotatekey command, rebuild your .env.vault file, and redeploy.

Is it safe to store my secrets with dotenv-vault?

It safer than scattering your secrets across multiple cloud providers. Those providers are focused on code deployment and server performance over secrets security.[1]

Dotenv Vault's singular focus is secrets security, and as a result we go to great lengths to make sure your secrets are safe. Afterall, we keep our secrets here too.[2]

What languages does this work with?

The .env.vault file and its encryption algorithm is language-agnostic so technically it works with any language. We've built convenience libraries for it in a handful of languages and are adding more quickly.

How do I use 💻 Locally Managed dotenv-vault?

There are a series of 💻 Locally Managed commands available to you. Locally managed never makes a remote API call. It is completely managed on your machine.

🔐 Vault Managed adds conveniences like backing up your .env file, secure sharing across your team, access permissions, and version history.

💻 Locally Managed is a good choice for someone who would prefer to handle this coordination themselves and does not want to trust Dotenv Vault with their secrets.

how to deploy with a .env.vault file video tutorial youtube/@dotenvorg

Here's how it works.

Generate your .env.vault file.

$ dotenv-vault local build

This creates two files:

  • .env.vault - encrypted contents of .env* file(s)
  • .env.keys - decryption key(s)

Boot using .env.vault.

$ DOTENV_KEY=<key string from .env.keys> npm start

[[email protected]][INFO] Loading env from encrypted .env.vault

Great! Next, set the DOTENV_KEY on your server. For example in heroku:

$ heroku config:set DOTENV_KEY=<key string from .env.keys>

Commit your .env.vault file safely to code and deploy.

Your .env.vault is decrypted on boot, its environment variables injected, and your app works as expected.

Congratulations, your secrets are now much safer than scattered across multiple servers and cloud providers!

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md

License

MIT