Heroku

Find code examples for this guide on GitHub.

Initial setup

Add a Procfile and a simple Hello World app, then push to Heroku.

# Procfile
web: node index.js

// index.js
const express = require('express')
const app = express()
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send(`Hello ${process.env.HELLO || ''}`)
})

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server running on port:${PORT}`)
})

Run dotenvx

Install dotenvx via the dotenvx buildpack.

heroku buildpacks:add https://github.com/dotenvx/heroku-buildpack-dotenvx

Update your Procfile to use dotenvx.

# Procfile
web: dotenvx run -- node index.js

Add production environment

# .env.production
HELLO="production"

Encrypt production

$ dotenvx encrypt -f .env.production

Commit .env.production. Do not commit .env.keys. Keep private keys somewhere safe like 1Password or Armor ⛨.

Set decryption key

Set DOTENV_PRIVATE_KEY on Heroku to the production key from .env.keys, and set DOTENV_FILE to .env.production.

heroku config:set DOTENV_PRIVATE_KEY='your-private-key' DOTENV_FILE='.env.production'
git push heroku

Your app restarts and env is injected from the encrypted .env.production file.