how to import dotenv in ES6

Importing dotenv in ES6

If you're working on a project that uses environment variables, you might have heard of the dotenv package. It allows you to load environment variables from a .env file into your Node.js application, making it easy to keep sensitive information like API keys and database credentials out of your codebase.

Here's how you can import dotenv in ES6:

import dotenv from 'dotenv';
dotenv.config();

The first line imports the dotenv package using ES6 syntax. The second line calls the config() method to load the environment variables from your .env file.

If you're working with TypeScript, you might encounter an error when trying to import dotenv:

Error: Cannot find module 'dotenv'

To fix this, you can add the following line to your tsconfig.json file:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "esModuleInterop": true
  }
}

This tells TypeScript to allow importing CommonJS modules as ES6 modules.

Alternatively, you can install the @types/dotenv package:

npm install --save-dev @types/dotenv

This will provide TypeScript with the necessary typings for the dotenv package.