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CI/CD in Node.js with GitHub Actions

Run Node.js CI/CD in GitHub Actions with an encrypted .env.vault file

Heads up! This guide assumes you are already familiar with dotenv and have synced your secrets with dotenv-vault.

Initial setup

Create a build.js file. It’s a very simple build script that outputs ‘Hello World’.

build.js
// build.js
console.log(`Hello ${process.env.HELLO}`)

Create a package.json file.

package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "node build.js"
  }
}

Create a .github/workflows/ci.yml file.

.github/workflows/ci.yml
# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: npm run build
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      with:
        node-version: 16
    - run: npm install
    - run: npm run build
      env:
        DOTENV_KEY: ${{ secrets.DOTENV_KEY }}

Commit that to code and push to GitHub.

Once pushed, the GitHub actions build will say 'Hello undefined' as it doesn’t have a way to access the environment variable yet. Let’s do that next.

GitHub Actions
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github.com/you/app/actions

Install dotenv

Install dotenv.

CLI
npm install dotenv --save # Requires dotenv >= 16.1.0

Create a .env file in the root of your project.

.env
# .env
HELLO="World"

As early as possible in your application, import and configure dotenv.

build.js
// build.js
require('dotenv').config()
console.log(process.env) // remove this after you've confirmed it is working

console.log(`Hello ${process.env.HELLO}`)

Try running it locally.

CLI
node build.js
{
  ...
  HELLO: 'World'
}
Hello World

Perfect. process.env now has the keys and values you defined in your .env file.

That covers local simulation of the CI. Let’s solve for the real CI environment next.

Build .env.vault

Push your latest .env file changes and edit your CI secrets. Learn more about syncing

CLI
npx dotenv-vault@latest push
npx dotenv-vault@latest open ci

Use the UI to configure those secrets per environment.

UI
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dotenv.org

Then build your encrypted .env.vault file.

CLI
npx dotenv-vault@latest build

Its contents should look something like this.

.env.vault
#/-------------------.env.vault---------------------/
#/         cloud-agnostic vaulting standard         /
#/   [how it works](https://dotenv.org/env-vault)   /
#/--------------------------------------------------/

# development
DOTENV_VAULT_DEVELOPMENT="/HqNgQWsf6Oh6XB9pI/CGkdgCe6d4/vWZHgP50RRoDTzkzPQk/xOaQs="
DOTENV_VAULT_DEVELOPMENT_VERSION=2

# ci
DOTENV_VAULT_CI="x26PuIKQ/xZ5eKrYomKngM+dO/9v1vxhwslE/zjHdg3l+H6q6PheB5GVDVIbZg=="
DOTENV_VAULT_CI_VERSION=2

Set DOTENV_KEY

Fetch your CI DOTENV_KEY.

CLI
npx dotenv-vault@latest keys ci
# outputs: dotenv://:[email protected]/vault/.env.vault?environment=ci

Set DOTENV_KEY on GitHub Actions.

UI
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Build CI

Commit those changes safely to code and re-run the build.

That’s it! On re-run, your .env.vault file will be decrypted and its CI secrets injected as environment variables – just in time.

You’ll know things worked correctly when you see 'Loading env from encrypted .env.vault' in your logs. If a DOTENV_KEY is not set (for example when developing on your local machine) it will fall back to standard dotenv functionality.

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github actions build