Hiding API Keys in Environment Variables and Pushing Code to Github

To accomplish this, we will be using an npm package called dotenv.

Dotenv is a zero-dependency module that loads environment variables from a .env file into process.env

1. Install the dotenv package

npm i dotenv

2. Require dotenv in the server file

require('dotenv').config();

3. Create a new file in your project called .env

4. In the .env file, paste all of your API keys

API_KEY=4423b234y329324b32

5. Access the API key with process.env

const api_key = process.env.API_KEY;

6. Create a .gitignore file and add the .env file to it

The code in the .gitignore file:

.env

7. Upload to Github!

It’s recommended to include something that will help others understand what to do with .env variables whether that be using the README, .env_sample, etc.