🚀 What Is Environment-Based Configuration?
Environment management means having different configuration values (URLs, DB credentials, feature flags, secrets, logging levels, etc.) depending on where the app is running:
Development
Testing
Staging
Production
Configurations should not be hardcoded into the application—instead, they should be kept in environment-specific config files or environment variables.
🧩 Why Use Config Files?
✔ Avoid hardcoding values
Makes the application easier to maintain and deploy.
✔ Simplify multi-environment deployment
Just swap the config file—not the code.
✔ Improve security
Secrets can be injected from secure sources (Vault, Key Vault, AWS Secrets Manager).
✔ Support CI/CD pipelines
Environment-specific configs load automatically during deployments.
🌍 Common Environment Management Approaches
Most frameworks use multiple config files, named by environment.
🧱 1. Environment Config in .NET
✔ Files:
appsettings.json
appsettings.Development.json
appsettings.Staging.json
appsettings.Production.json
✔ How it works
ASP.NET Core loads:
appsettings.json
Then overrides with appsettings.{Environment}.json
✔ Set environment:
Windows
setx ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT "Staging"
Linux
export ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Staging
✔ Example
appsettings.Development.json:
{
"Logging": {
"LogLevel": "Debug"
},
"ConnectionStrings": {
"DefaultConnection": "Server=localhost;Database=myapp_dev;"
}
}
appsettings.Production.json:
{
"Logging": {
"LogLevel": "Warning"
},
"ConnectionStrings": {
"DefaultConnection": "Server=prod-db;Database=myapp_prod;"
}
}
🏗 2. Environment Config in Spring Boot
✔ Files:
application.properties
application-dev.properties
application-prod.properties
✔ Activate a profile
spring.profiles.active=dev
Or via CLI:
java -jar app.jar --spring.profiles.active=prod
✔ Example
application-dev.properties:
server.port=8081
logging.level.root=DEBUG
app.url=http://localhost:8081
application-prod.properties:
server.port=80
logging.level.root=ERROR
app.url=https://api.company.com
🟩 3. Environment Config in Node.js
✔ Files:
.env
.env.development
.env.production
✔ Using dotenv package
npm install dotenv
Load it:
require("dotenv").config();
✔ Example .env.production
DB_HOST=prod-db.company.com
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=80
.env.development
DB_HOST=localhost
NODE_ENV=development
PORT=3000
🧪 4. Environment Config in Frontend Apps (React, Angular, Vue)
✔ React
.env.development
.env.production
Example:
REACT_APP_API_URL=https://api.dev.com
✔ Angular
environment.ts
environment.prod.ts
🛡 5. Security Considerations
❌ Never commit secrets to config files
Use:
Environment variables
Vault services
Kubernetes Secrets
✔ Store non-sensitive environment values in config files
(Example: app URLs, logging levels).
✔ Inject secrets at runtime
CI/CD pipelines typically handle this.
⚙️ 6. Best Practices for Environment Config Files
Best Practice Explanation
Use multiple config files One for each environment
Keep defaults in a base config Environment files override
Do not duplicate values Only override changed values
Do not commit secrets Use secure vaults
Use environment variables to choose the environment Dynamically determine environment at startup
Make configuration strongly typed (e.g., .NET Options Pattern) Prevents mismatches and missing keys
📦 7. Example Project Structure (Generic)
config/
├── default.json
├── development.json
├── staging.json
└── production.json
src/
└── main application files
Use environment variables to choose the config:
export APP_ENV=production
🪄 8. How CI/CD Uses Environment Config
During deployment pipelines:
Select environment (dev/staging/prod)
Load corresponding config file
Inject secrets (Azure Key Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
Build application
Deploy with environment config
This enables zero-code-change deployments.
⭐ Summary
Using config files for environment management allows you to:
Cleanly separate config from application logic
Maintain different settings for different environments
Support CI/CD processes
Improve security and maintainability
Reduce manual errors
Typical environment config structure:
Environment Example File
Development appsettings.Development.json, application-dev.properties, .env.development
Testing appsettings.Test.json, .env.test
Staging appsettings.Staging.json
Production appsettings.Production.json, .env.production
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