To protect yourself:
and often unnecessary in most modern web frameworks. Standard practice typically separates files by environment (development/production) or (shared/ignored). Why this file is likely a mistake In popular frameworks like , environment files follow a specific . A file named .env.local.production might not be automatically loaded: .env.production (shared production defaults) or .env.local (local overrides for any environment). Recognizes .env.production .env.production.local Better Alternatives
You want to run your application locally (e.g., next start or vite preview ) but want to use the live API endpoints, production database keys, or analytics tokens 1.2.5 . .env.local.production
| File Naming Strategy | Primary Purpose | Should be committed to Git? | Loads for... | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Base configuration, default values for all environments. | No (ideally, often committed as a template .env.example ). | All environments. | | .env.local | Local overrides for your specific machine. | Never. Always add to .gitignore . | All environments. | | .env.development | Settings for the development environment (e.g., local API endpoints). | Yes (as a template). | npm run dev , next dev . | | .env.production | Default settings for the production environment (e.g., live API endpoints). | Yes (as a template). | npm run build , next start . | | .env.development.local | Highest priority overrides specific to your local development environment. | Never. | npm run dev . | | .env.production.local | Highest priority overrides for testing a production build locally. | Never. | npm run build , next start . | | .env.test | Settings for the testing environment. | Yes (as a template). | npm run test . |
, the application looks for production variables. If you need to point your local machine to a live production database or a specific production API key—without committing those credentials to the repository— .env.local.production To protect yourself: and often unnecessary in most
When running in ( NODE_ENV=production ), the .env.production.local file takes precedence. The host, user, password, and database name all come from this high-priority file, overriding all other sources.
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL="https://myapp.com" API_URL="https://api.myapp.com" A file named
# .env.example NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL= DATABASE_SECRET= # Do not put real secrets here! Use code with caution. 3. Prefer Platform Dashboards for Serverless
In your production environment, you want to use a different API key, which is stored in a .env.local.production file:
Some bugs only manifest when code is minified and optimized in production mode. If you need to enable high-level logging, connect to a replica production database, or toggle specific feature flags to debug a production build on your machine, .env.local.production isolates those changes to your laptop. 3. Traditional VPS Deployments (Docker, PM2, Ubuntu)