📄 env-native

Minimalistic, zero-dependency .env loader using Node.js's native util.parseEnv. Significantly faster and smaller than dotenv and dotenvx. If you like this module, please star the repository on GitHub. Thanks for your support!

⚠️ Good to know

Since v20.12.0, Node.js includes built-in process.loadEnvFile and util.parseEnv.
If you don't need env-native's CLI, stick with the built-in Node.js functions.

Example with loadEnvFile (recommended):

process.loadEnvFile(); // It will immediately load your .env file into process.env

Example with parseEnv:

const { parseEnv } = require('node:util');
parseEnv('HELLO=keyboard cat');// Returns: { HELLO: 'keyboard cat' }

🚀 Features

• Zero dependencies
• Fast and lightweight (~14 KB)
• Uses built-in util.parseEnv
• Simple API: config(options) or parse(content, options)
• Supports custom file paths and variable overrides
• Supports CLI
• ESM and CJS support
• No self-promotion or console spam, unlike dotenv
• Requires Node.js ≥ 20.12.0

📦 Installation

npm

npm install env-native

yarn

yarn add env-native

Make sure you're using Node.js version 20.12.0 or newer.

🧪 Benchmark (Node.js v22.17.0)

Module	Size	Workstation (ms)	Thin Client (ms)
env-native (ESM)	~ 14 KB	0.79, 0.78, 0.78, 0.76	2.55, 2.97, 2.74, 2.51
dotenv (CJS)	~ 79 KB	7.71, 8.06, 8.1, 8.61	37.40, 40.96, 37.91, 35.93
dotenvx (CJS)	~ 293 KB	91.82, 97.76, 96.76, 99.50	286.74, 270.07, 269.07, 278.70

env-native is fast, clean, and native — with no logs, no overhead, and up to 90× faster than dotenvx on low-end systems. dotenvx is maintained by the same author as dotenv.

Test Environment

Workstation

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX
• Disk: KINGSTON SKC3000S1024G (NVM Express 1.4)
• OS: Windows 11 Home 24H2

Thin Client

• CPU: AMD GX-420GI
• Disk: WD Red WDS500G1R0B (M.2 SATA)
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (Linux 6.8.0-63-generic)

🧪 Example

.env

HELLO_WORLD="Keyboard cat! https://youtu.be/J---aiyznGQ"

process.js

import { config } from 'env-native';
config(); // require('env-native').config(); for CJS

console.log(process.env.HELLO_WORLD); // Keyboard cat! https://youtu.be/J---aiyznGQ

🧩 API

config(options?)

Loads a .env file and injects its variables into process.env.

Parameters

Option	Type	Default	Description
path	string	.env	Path to your .env file
encoding	string	utf8	File encoding
override	boolean	false	Overwrite existing process.env variables

Note: All injected variables are always stored as strings in process.env.

Returns

void

Example with options

require('env-native').config({ path: './config/.env', override: true });

parse(content: string, options?)

Parses raw .env file content using the native util.parseEnv. Does not inject anything into process.env.

Parameters

Option	Type	Default	Description
coerce	boolean	true	Automatically converts values: "false" → false, "42" → 42, etc.
freeze	boolean	true	Freeze returned object (immutable)

Returns

Record<string, string | number | boolean>

Example

const { readFileSync } = require('node:fs');
const { parse } = require('env-native');

const raw = readFileSync('./config/.my-env-file', 'utf8');
const parsed = parse(raw, { coerce: true, freeze: true });

console.log(parsed);

🖥️ CLI Usage

env-native [--env <file>] [--coerce|--no-coerce] [--freeze|--no-freeze] [--cmd <command> [args...]]
enative [--env <file>] [--coerce|--no-coerce] [--freeze|--no-freeze]

The CLI is available as both env-native and enative (alias).

Options

Flag	Alias	Default	Description
--env <file>	-e	.env	Path to .env file
--cmd <command>	-c	–	Command to execute with loaded environment
--coerce		true	Auto-convert numbers and booleans
--no-coerce		–	Disable auto-convert
--freeze		true	Freeze parsed object
--no-freeze		–	Disable freezing
--help	-h	–	Show help message
--version	-v	–	Print version

Examples

env-native --env .env
env-native --env .env --no-coerce --no-freeze
env-native --env .env --cmd node app.js
env-native -e .env -c node app.js

🔒 License

Copyright © Sefinek. Licensed under the MIT License.