Vercel with Node.js
Learn how to make Vercel, Node.js, and Dotenv Vault work together. This tutorial assumes you have already created a .env file and synced it.
You can find a complete example repo here.
1. Set up Node.js for Vercel
Set up your Node.js app to work with Vercel.
// index.js
const http = require('http')
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 5000
const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
res.write(`Hello ${process.env.HELLO}`)
res.end()
})
server.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Server running on ${PORT}`)
})
Add vercel.json file.
{
"version": 2,
"builds": [
{
"src": "index.js",
"use": "@now/node"
}
],
"routes": [
{
"src": "/(.*)",
"dest": "index.js"
}
]
}
2. Require dotenv-vault-core
Install dotenv-vault-core.
npm install dotenv-vault-core --save
Require it as early as possible in your Node.js application.
// index.js
require('dotenv-vault-core').config()
console.log(process.env) // for debugging purposes. remove when ready.
const http = require('http')
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 5000
const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
res.write(`Hello ${process.env.HELLO}`)
res.end()
})
server.listen(PORT, () => {
console.log(`Server running on ${PORT}`)
})
3. Run dotenv-vault build
Run npx dotenv-vault build to build your encrypted .env.vault file.
$ npx dotenv-vault build
4. Get DOTENV_KEY
Run npx dotenv-vault keys production.
$ npx dotenv-vault keys production
remote: Listing .env.vault decryption keys... done
dotenv://:key_1234@dotenv.org/vault/.env.vault?environment=production
5. Set DOTENV_KEY
Visit your Vercel Project > Settings > Environment Variables.
Set DOTENV_KEY to the value returned in step 4.
6. Commit and push
That’s it!
Commit those changes safely to code and push to Vercel.
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 (like during development on your local machine) it will fall back to regular dotenv.