Using Dotenv and environment variables with fastlane

.env

STUFF = this is some stuff

.env.config1

CONFIG = this is config 1

.env.config2

CONFIG = this is config 2

.env.secret

SOME_API_TOKEN = 123456789

.gitignore

.env.secret

Fastfile

fastlane_require 'dotenv'

before_all do
  Dotenv.overload '.env.secret'
end

lane :test do
  # Loaded from .env (by fastlane)
  puts "STUFF: #{ENV['STUFF']}"                  
  
  # Loaded from .env.secret (by us in before_all)
  puts "SOME_API_TOKEN: #{ENV['SOME_API_TOKEN']}"
  
  # Loaded from .env.(<env>) where <env> is passed in from `fastlane test --env <env>` (by fastlane)
  # Ex: `fastlane test --env config` loads .env.config1
  puts "CONFIG: #{ENV['CONFIG']}"
end

Fastfile_before_all.rb

fastlane_require 'dotenv'

before_all do
  Dotenv.overload '.env.secret'
end

output.sh

$: fastlane test
  STUFF: this is some stuff
  SOME_API_TOKEN: 123456789
  CONFIG:
  
$: fastlane test --env config1
  STUFF: this is some stuff
  SOME_API_TOKEN: 123456789
  CONFIG: this is config 1
  
$: fastlane test --env config2
  STUFF: this is some stuff
  SOME_API_TOKEN: 123456789
  CONFIG: this is config 2

Finally its working, here is my code

    # Global Variables
    fabric_api_key = nil
    fabric_build_secret = nil

platform :ios do
    before_all do
        Dotenv.overload('.env', '.env.secret')

        fabric_api_key = ENV['FABRIC_API_KEY']
        fabric_build_secret	= ENV['FABRIC_BUILD_SECRET']
   end
end

The issue was in the way I was declaring my variable. If you are directly going to use ENV[] then everything is working as expected.

Is there a better way of declaring global variables or should I be using ENV[] directly whenever I am accessing environment variables, Any suggestions, thank you.

Woot, glad you got it working! Using .env files are the best way to go. I only access them through ENV[] in special occasions. The options in fastlane actions have environment variables names that they are associated with so if you are using actions you should be able to just name them as they are defined in the docs and then let all my magic happen from there 🙃

In addition to using environment variables, I can recommend the tool dotenv-linter - it’s a lightning-fast linter for .env files. Written in Rust. Maybe it would be useful for you.

@mgrachev FYI you have extra characters in the URL that prevent it from opening directly

@mgrachev FYI you have extra characters in the URL that prevent it from opening directly

Thanks! Fixed.

Is it possible to load env files outside of fastlane directory?