Dotenv Key Checker
Your .env and your .env.example drift apart. Someone adds a variable, forgets
to document it, and the next person clones the repo and spends twenty minutes
finding out why the app will not start.
It tells you, in the editor, the moment they disagree.
What it does
Open a .env and you get:
- Missing keys — documented in
.env.example, absent from your .env.
These are the ones that break startup. Reported at the top of the file, with a
quick fix that adds them all.
- Undocumented keys — present in your
.env, missing from .env.example.
These are the ones your teammates will not know to set. Reported on the exact
line, with a quick fix that documents the key.
- A status bar count —
✓ .env 12/12 when in sync, ⚠ .env 10/12 when not.
Run Dotenv Key Checker: Check All .env Files to audit an entire monorepo at once.
It never shows your values
Only key names appear in diagnostics, hovers, the status bar and the report.
The values in your .env are read to find the keys and are never displayed,
logged, or sent anywhere. Nothing leaves your machine — there is no network code
in this extension.
The one place values move is deliberate and one-way:
|
|
Adding a missing key to .env |
Copies the placeholder from .env.example — that file is committed, so its values are not secret |
Documenting a key in .env.example |
Writes KEY= with no value — your real secret is never written into a committed file |
Turn the first off with dotenvDoctor.copyExampleValues.
Templates it recognises
.env.example, .env.sample, .env.template, .env.dist, .env.defaults,
and example.env / sample.env. Change or reorder with
dotenvDoctor.templateNames.
Everything else matching .env or .env.<name> is treated as a real env file,
including .env.local and .env.production. Each is compared against the
template sitting next to it, so a monorepo with one .env per service works
without configuration.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
What it does |
dotenvDoctor.missingKeySeverity |
warning |
Severity for keys missing from your .env. off disables |
dotenvDoctor.undocumentedKeySeverity |
information |
Severity for keys missing from the template. off disables |
dotenvDoctor.templateNames |
.env.example, … |
Which filenames count as the template |
dotenvDoctor.ignoreKeys |
— |
Key names to skip. Trailing * works, e.g. npm_* |
dotenvDoctor.copyExampleValues |
true |
Copy placeholder values from the template when adding a key |
Commands
- Dotenv Key Checker: Add Missing Keys to This File
- Dotenv Key Checker: Check All .env Files — workspace report in the Output panel
Author
Irfan Ali
MIT licensed.
