Securely Managing Sensitive Configuration with Environment Variables

// For local development, you might use a .env file and 'dotenv' package (npm install dotenv)
// In production, environment variables are set directly on the server/hosting platform.

require('dotenv').config(); // Load environment variables from .env file

const DATABASE_URL = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
const API_KEY = process.env.API_KEY;
const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET;
const NODE_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';

console.log('Application Environment:', NODE_ENV);

if (!DATABASE_URL) {
  console.error('Error: DATABASE_URL environment variable is not set!');
  process.exit(1);
}

if (!API_KEY) {
  console.warn('Warning: API_KEY environment variable is not set. Some features may fail.');
}

// Use these variables in your application logic
console.log('Database URL (masked for security):', DATABASE_URL ? '*****' + DATABASE_URL.slice(-5) : 'Not Set');
console.log('API Key (masked for security):', API_KEY ? '*****' + API_KEY.slice(-5) : 'Not Set');
console.log('JWT Secret (masked for security):', JWT_SECRET ? '*****' + JWT_SECRET.slice(-5) : 'Not Set');

// Example of how to access them securely within a module
module.exports = {
  dbUrl: DATABASE_URL,
  apiKey: API_KEY,
  jwtSecret: JWT_SECRET,
  isProduction: NODE_ENV === 'production',
};