In this example, when you run your application locally, it will use http://localhost:8000 as the API URL, overriding the default value provided in .env . This way, you can work against a local API without altering the committed configuration.
# .env.local HOSTNAME=localhost PORT=8080 API_URL=http://$HOSTNAME:$PORT/v1 # Results in: http://localhost:8080/v1 .env.local
Use UPPER_CASE_SNAKE_CASE for variable names. In this example, when you run your application
Do not use spaces around the = sign. KEY = VALUE will often break the parser. Use KEY=VALUE . Summary In this example
In modern web development, managing configuration securely is a core requirement. Applications must behave differently depending on where they run. Your local machine, a staging server, and the production environment all require unique configurations.
Create a .env.example file with placeholder values and commit it to Git.