---
description: Learn to add and access environment variables in your Next.js application.
---

# Environment Variables

> This document is for Next.js versions 9.4 and up. If you’re using an older version of Next.js, upgrade or refer to [Environment Variables in next.config.js](/docs/api-reference/next.config.js/environment-variables.md).

<details open>
  <summary><b>Examples</b></summary>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples/environment-variables">Environment Variables</a></li>
  </ul>
</details>

Next.js comes with built-in support for environment variables, which allows you to do the following:

- [Use `.env.local` to load environment variables](#loading-environment-variables)
- [Expose environment variables to the browser](#exposing-environment-variables-to-the-browser)

## Loading Environment Variables

Next.js has built-in support for loading environment variables from `.env.local` into `process.env`.

An example `.env.local`:

```bash
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USER=myuser
DB_PASS=mypassword
```

This loads `process.env.DB_HOST`, `process.env.DB_USER`, and `process.env.DB_PASS` into the Node.js environment automatically allowing you to use them in [Next.js data fetching methods](/docs/basic-features/data-fetching) and [API routes](/docs/api-routes/introduction).

For example, using [`getStaticProps`](/docs/basic-features/data-fetching#getstaticprops-static-generation):

```js
// pages/index.js
export async function getStaticProps() {
  const db = await myDB.connect({
    host: process.env.DB_HOST,
    username: process.env.DB_USER,
    password: process.env.DB_PASS,
  })
  // ...
}
```

## Exposing Environment Variables to the Browser

By default all environment variables loaded through `.env.local` are only available in the Node.js environment, meaning they won't be exposed to the browser.

In order to expose a variable to the browser you have to prefix the variable with `NEXT_PUBLIC_`. For example:

```bash
NEXT_PUBLIC_ANALYTICS_ID=abcdefghijk
```

This loads `process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ANALYTICS_ID` into the Node.js environment automatically. Allowing you to use it anywhere in your code. The value will be inlined into JavaScript sent to the browser because of the `NEXT_PUBLIC_` prefix.

```js
// pages/index.js
import setupAnalyticsService from '../lib/my-analytics-service'

// NEXT_PUBLIC_ANALYTICS_ID can be used here as it's prefixed by NEXT_PUBLIC_
setupAnalyticsService(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ANALYTICS_ID)

function HomePage() {
  return <h1>Hello World</h1>
}

export default HomePage
```

## Default Environment Variables

In general only one `.env.local` file is needed. However, sometimes you might want to add some defaults for the `development` (`next dev`) or `production` (`next start`) environment.

Next.js allows you to set defaults in `.env` (all environments), `.env.development` (development environment), and `.env.production` (production environment).

`.env.local` always overrides the defaults set.

> **Note**: `.env`, `.env.development`, and `.env.production` files should be included in your repository as they define defaults. **`.env*.local` should be added to `.gitignore`**, as those files are intended to be ignored. `.env.local` is where secrets can be stored.

## Environment Variables on Vercel

When deploying on [Vercel](https://vercel.com) you can configure secrets in the [Environment Variables](https://vercel.com/docs/v2/build-step#environment-variables) section of the project in the Vercel dashboard.

You can still use `.env`, `.env.development` and `.env.production` to add defaults.

If you've configured [Development Environment Variables](https://vercel.com/docs/v2/build-step#development-environment-variables) you can pull them into a `.env.local` for usage on your local machine using the following command:

```bash
vercel env pull .env.local
```

## Test Environment Variables

Apart from `development` and `production` environments, there is a 3rd option available: `test`. In the same way you can set defaults for development or production environments, you can do the same with `.env.test` file for testing environment (though this one is not so common as the previous two).

This one is useful when running tests with tools like `jest` or `cypress` where you need to set specific environment vars only for testing purposes. Test default values will be loaded if `NODE_ENV` is set to `test`, though you usually don't need to do this manually as testing tools will address it for you.

There is a small difference between `test` environment, and both `development` and `production` that you need to bear in mind: `.env.local` won't be loaded, as you expect tests to produce the same results for everyone. This way every test execution will use same env defaults across different executions by ignoring your `.env.local` (which is intended to override the default set).

> **Note**: similar to Default Environment Variables, `.env.test` file should be included in your repository, but `.env.test.local` shouldn't, as `.env*.local` are intended to be ignored through `.gitignore`.