Northflank with Node.js
Learn how to make Northflank, Node.js, and Dotenv Vault work together in a simple web app. This tutorial assumes you are already familiar with .env files and know how to sync them.
You can find a complete example repo here.
Initial setup
For a Docker build type, create a Dockerfile in the root folder to set your Northflank project settings.
Add the following segment to run the build script in your package.json and expose port 80, which will be needed later.
Text
// Dockerfile
FROM node:12-alpine AS builder
COPY package.json .
RUN npm install
COPY . .
EXPOSE 80
CMD [ "npm", "run", "build" ]
If you are using a buildpack like Heroku for example instead of the default Docker, you can refer to the Heroku integration guide for Procfile settings.
Create an index.js file, if you haven’t done so already. Process the environment variables in it and proceed with a standard Node.js http-server setup.
Reference the module, indicate the port, and add some dynamic HTML with an environment variable to confirm it works beyond local.
Node.js
// index.js
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 80
const http = require('http')
const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
res.statusCode = 200;
res.end(`Hello ${process.env.HELLO}`);
});
server.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Server running on port:${PORT}/`);
});
Remember to set an event listener running on the same port so your app knows when to serve its visitors. Commit that to code and push it to Northflank.
Once it is deployed, your app will say 'Hello undefined' as it doesn’t have a way to access the environment variable from the HTML yet.
That is why the next step for you to take is to connect them dynamically.
Package installation
Start by installing the dotenv package with npm.
CLI
npm install dotenv --save
Reference the Vault package as early as possible in your index.js code to prevent possible conflicts.
Node.js
// index.js
require('dotenv').config()
console.log(process.env) // for debugging purposes. remove when ready.
Vault setup
Open your Vault project and insert the HELLO secret with value of your choice under development for local testing.
For this tutorial it is "user, your local test worked perfectly" to complete the static text in the HTML.
Once you are ready and confirmed you’re logged in, sync your Dotenv Vault locally with npx dotenv-vault pull. Then, run locally for testing.
Shell
# .env
HELLO="user, your local test worked perfectly."
Node.js
node index.js
{
HELLO: 'user, your local test worked perfectly.'
}
Running on port 80
If you’ve set everything correctly, you will be faced with the message "Hello user, your local test worked perfectly" at http://localhost:80.
Build the Vault
Now that the local test is completed successfully, it is time for you to set a production value for when you deploy.
Following the previous fashion, it is set to HELLO="user, your production test worked perfectly."
Run npx dotenv-vault open production so you can start editing production values with the Vault interface.
CLI
npx dotenv-vault open production
When you are done tinkering, pull the latest Vault version and build your encrypted local .env.vault file by running npx dotenv-vault build.
Commit your .env.vault file to code without stress knowing it is both safe and necessary to do so, unlike .env files.
CLI
npx dotenv-vault build
Set deployment
There is one last step to complete before you are ready - you must set the decryption DOTENV_KEY on Northflank.
To do that, first fetch your Vault production key by running npx dotenv-vault keys production.
CLI
npx dotenv-vault keys production
remote: Listing .env.vault decryption keys... done
dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=production
Copy over the key and jump to your Northflank project. Hop on to the Settings panel and then set DOTENV_KEY as key and your decryption key as value dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=production as value.
Commit and push
That’s it!
Commit those changes safely to code and deploy to Northflank.
When the build runs, it will recognize the DOTENV_KEY, decrypt the .env.vault file, and load the production environment variables to ENV.
If a DOTENV_KEY is not set when developing on local machine, for example, it will fall back to standard Dotenv functionality.
You’ll know things worked correctly when you see 'Loading .env from encrypted .env.vault' in your Northflank logs.
