env-check

env-check is a smart environment variable validator and manager from SphereOps that solves common problems with .env files in development teams and multi-environment deployments.

🧩 The Problem

In many projects, especially in teams or multi-environment deployments (dev/stage/prod), managing .env files can be challenging:

• Missing or misconfigured environment variables cause silent failures
• Environment files are inconsistent across environments
• No validation of variable types or required values
• Difficulty in safely sharing sensitive environment variables with team members
• Uncertainty about which variables are actually used in the codebase

🚀 Features

env-check solves these problems with a comprehensive set of features:

• Validate: Check environment variables against a schema for required values and correct types
• Compare: Find differences between environment files (e.g., dev vs. prod)
• Generate: Create schema files or templates from existing environment files
• Code Check: Identify unused or missing variables referenced in your code
• Security: Encrypt sensitive environment files for safe sharing with team members
• Format Support: Works with .env, JSON, and YAML formats

📦 Installation

Global NPM Installation

npm install -g env-check

This will make the env-check command available globally in your terminal.

Linux System-wide Installation

For system-wide installation on Linux (making it available to all users):

1. Install the package globally first:

sudo npm install -g env-check

2. Create a symbolic link to make it available as a system utility:

sudo ln -s $(which env-check) /usr/local/bin/env-check

3. Ensure it's executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/env-check

Direct Usage Without Installing

You can also use the tool without installing it:

npx env-check

🛠️ Usage

Validate Environment Variables

Check your .env file against a schema:

env-check validate --file .env --schema env.schema.json

Check if variables are actually used in your code:

env-check validate --file .env --code-check

Compare Environment Files

Find differences between environment files:

env-check diff .env.dev .env.prod

Output as JSON:

env-check diff .env.dev .env.prod --output json

Generate Schema or Example Files

Generate a schema from your current .env file:

env-check init --type schema --file .env

Generate an .env.example template:

env-check init --type example --file .env

Encrypt/Decrypt Environment Files

Encrypt an environment file for safe sharing:

env-check encrypt .env --output .env.encrypted

Decrypt an encrypted environment file:

env-check decrypt .env.encrypted --output .env.decrypted

Schema Format

env-check uses a JSON schema format to validate environment variables. Here's an example:

{
  "PORT": {
    "type": "number",
    "required": true,
    "description": "Port the server will listen on"
  },
  "API_KEY": {
    "type": "string",
    "required": true,
    "sensitive": true
  },
  "DEBUG_MODE": {
    "type": "boolean",
    "required": false,
    "default": "false"
  }
}

Supported types:

• string: Regular string value
• number: Numeric value
• boolean: Boolean value (true, false, 0, 1, yes, no)
• url: Valid URL
• email: Valid email address
• ipaddress: Valid IP address

💖 Why env-check Will Make Your Life Easier

• Stop Fighting .env Files: No more debugging issues caused by missing or incorrectly configured environment variables.

• Team Consistency: Ensure everyone on your team has the correct variables across all environments.

• Onboarding Made Easy: New team members can get up and running quickly with correctly configured environments.

• CI/CD Ready: Validate environment variables in your CI/CD pipeline before deployment.

• Security First: Safely share sensitive credentials with team members using encryption.

• Documentation Built-in: Schema files document what each variable is for and what format it should have.

• Cleanup Unused Variables: Identify and remove environment variables that aren't used in your code.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📝 License

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

🏢 About SphereOps

SphereOps specializes in building developer tools that make operations and DevOps workflows more efficient and error-free. # check-env