Environment variables undefined using dotenv

Question

I have a file which connects to Contentful using my specific space and accessToken . Recently, I decided to hide the keys into an .env file using the dotenv package. This is what my file looks like:

import {createClient} from 'contentful';
require('dotenv').config();
//console.log('space = ', process.env.CONTENTFUL_SPACE);

const client = createClient({
  space: process.env.CONTENTFUL_SPACE,
  accessToken: process.env.CONTENTFUL_TOKEN
});

export default client;

For some reason, the env variables are coming out as undefined. Currently, my .env file is under the root dir. This is the file structure of my project:

project
 client
  src
   service
    client.js <-- The file I pasted above
 node_modules
 .env
 package-lock.json
 package.json

Things I've tried:

1. Uninstalled dotenv and reinstalled it
2. Deleted node_modules folder and reinstalled all dependencies
3. Moved .env file under service folder where the client file exists
4. Used the REACT_APP_* prefix for my env variables in .env file
5. Specified the path in the config call

All of these solutions came from other stackoverflow questions. I've been stuck on this for a few days circling through the solutions listed and looking for others but still haven't figured out why I'm not able to access my env variables!

Answer 1

So I tried structuring a sample project the same way you've structured it, and it didn't work. I moved the.env file under /service folder, it worked. My guess is, requiring the dot env file should be on the main file that wraps your project (main file in the root), along with.env file.

Answer 2

Try setting a path to your.env file in the config.

const dotenv = require('dotenv');
dotenv.config({ path: '../../../.env' });

edit: config path