motdotla/dotenv
Some data may be outdated — see provenance labels.
Loads environment variables from .env for nodejs projects. observed · 2026-09-22
Health v2 · maintenance only
75/100
- Activity 96
- Release rhythm 35
- Longevity 100
Flags: no_releases
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-10-21. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: n/a
- age_days: 4855
- days_rel: n/a
- days_push: 29
- n_releases_24m: 0
Adoption not part of the score
20538 stars · 963 forks observed · 2026-09-22
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-10-19, confidence 0.99
Dotenv is a zero‑dependency JavaScript library that loads variables from a .env file into process.env. It also provides a CLI to run commands with those variables injected.
Use cases
- load environment variables from a .env file in a Node.js project
- inject .env values into a command line execution
- manage simple secret configuration without external services
- support multiline values such as private keys in .env files
- use a drop‑in configuration solution for Twelve‑Factor apps
When to choose
- You need a lightweight, zero‑dependency way to read .env files in Node, Bun, or Deno.
- Your project follows the Twelve‑Factor App principle of storing config in the environment.
- You want a quick CLI to run scripts with environment variables automatically loaded.
When to avoid
- You require encrypted secret storage or vault integration out of the box.
- Your application needs complex configuration management across multiple environments.
- You need a full‑featured secret‑management system with rotation and access control.
Facets
library · maturity active
configuration-management secrets-management developer-tools security bun dotenv zero-dependency env-file cli nodejs deno
3 sources
- readme: https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv · fetched 2026-09-22 · 18ef204f85e3
- homepage: https://www.dotenv.org · fetched 2026-10-05 · 1f0c11aa15dd
- registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/dotenv · fetched 2026-10-05 · 4280fa40ca00
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| motdotla/dotenv | main | 75 |
For agents
Data as of 2026-10-19T08:05:51.212177+00:00 · Report a problem