Environment Switcher

Quickly switch between multiple environments in your .env files with just a few keystrokes!

Features

• 🚀 Dynamic Environment Switching: Support for unlimited custom environments (staging, production, development, testing, etc.)
• 🎯 Smart Environment Detection: Automatically detects all available environments in your file
• ⌨️ Quick Access: Single keyboard shortcut to access environment picker
• 📝 Intelligent Comment Management: Automatically comments/uncomments environment-specific sections
• 🔄 Multiple Blocks: Support for multiple environment blocks with the same name
• 🛑 Scope Boundaries: Respects blank lines as environment scope terminators
• 🎯 Context-Aware: Works only when editing .env files for focused functionality
• 📋 Interactive Picker: Visual selection of environments with block and line counts

How It Works

The extension detects environment sections in your .env files marked with comments using the # env=<name> syntax. It automatically comments/uncomments the appropriate sections when switching environments, while preserving shared variables and respecting scope boundaries.

Example .env file structure:

# Common variables (always active)
DATABASE_URL=postgres://localhost:5432/myapp
API_VERSION=v1

# env=production
API_URL=https://api.production.com
DEBUG=false
LOG_LEVEL=error

# env=staging
# API_URL=https://api.staging.com
# DEBUG=true
# LOG_LEVEL=debug

# env=development
# API_URL=http://localhost:3000
# DEBUG=true
# LOG_LEVEL=debug
# MOCK_DATA=true

# Sanity env=staging
# SANITY_DATASET=staging
# SANITY_PROJECT_ID=staging123

# Sanity env=production
SANITY_DATASET=production
SANITY_PROJECT_ID=prod456

# Variables below this blank line are never modified
SHARED_CONFIG=always_active
GLOBAL_TIMEOUT=30

After switching to staging:

# Common variables (always active)
DATABASE_URL=postgres://localhost:5432/myapp
API_VERSION=v1

# env=production
# API_URL=https://api.production.com
# DEBUG=false
# LOG_LEVEL=error

# env=staging
API_URL=https://api.staging.com
DEBUG=true
LOG_LEVEL=debug

# env=development
# API_URL=http://localhost:3000
# DEBUG=true
# LOG_LEVEL=debug
# MOCK_DATA=true

# Sanity env=staging
SANITY_DATASET=staging
SANITY_PROJECT_ID=staging123

# Sanity env=production
# SANITY_DATASET=production
# SANITY_PROJECT_ID=prod456

# Variables below this blank line are never modified
SHARED_CONFIG=always_active
GLOBAL_TIMEOUT=30

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Environment Switcher"
4. Click Install

Usage

Command Palette

1. Open your .env file
2. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)
3. Type "Change Environment" or "Env Switcher"
4. Select Change Environment
5. Choose your desired environment from the list

Keyboard Shortcut

• Change Environment: Alt+Ctrl+E (Windows/Linux) or Alt+Cmd+E (Mac)

Context Menu

Right-click in any .env file to access Change Environment directly from the context menu.

File Format Support

The extension works with:

• .env files
• .env.local files
• Files with dotenv language mode
• Files with ini language mode

Environment Section Format

To use the environment switcher, structure your .env file with the # env=<name> syntax:

Basic Format

# env=production
PROD_API=https://prod.api.com
PROD_DEBUG=false

# env=staging
STAGING_API=https://staging.api.com
STAGING_DEBUG=true

Advanced Features

Multiple Blocks Per Environment

You can have multiple blocks for the same environment:

# API env=production
API_URL=https://api.prod.com
API_KEY=prod123

# Database env=production
DB_HOST=prod.db.com
DB_NAME=prod_db

# API env=staging
# API_URL=https://api.staging.com
# API_KEY=staging123

# Database env=staging
# DB_HOST=staging.db.com
# DB_NAME=staging_db

Scope Boundaries

Blank lines terminate environment scope - variables after blank lines are never modified:

# env=production
PROD_VAR=value

# env=staging
# STAGING_VAR=value

# These variables are always active (never commented/uncommented)
SHARED_SECRET=always_active
GLOBAL_CONFIG=persistent

Custom Environment Names

Use any environment names you need:

# env=development
# env=testing
# env=staging
# env=production
# env=local
# env=demo

Commands

Environment Picker

When you run the Change Environment command, you'll see a picker showing:

• Environment Name: The name of each detected environment
• Block Count: How many blocks exist for this environment
• Line Count: Total lines across all blocks for this environment

Example picker display:

production    2 block(s), 8 lines
staging       2 block(s), 6 lines
development   1 block(s), 4 lines

Requirements

• VS Code 1.96.2 or higher
• .env files with properly formatted environment sections using # env=<name> syntax

Key Features

✅ Smart Parsing

• Detects # env=<name> syntax with optional prefixes (e.g., # API env=production)
• Supports unlimited custom environment names
• Handles multiple blocks per environment

✅ Scope Management

• Blank lines terminate environment scope
• Variables outside environment sections remain untouched
• Preserves shared/global variables

✅ Intelligent Switching

• Comments out non-selected environments
• Uncomments selected environment
• Maintains proper formatting and indentation

Known Issues

• Environment sections must use the # env=<name> syntax
• Blank lines are used as scope terminators
• Only one environment can be active at a time

Contributing

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

Release Notes

0.0.2

• Add icon
• Update readme

0.0.1

• Single command interface with environment picker
• Support for unlimited custom environments
• Multiple blocks per environment support
• Blank line scope termination
• Dynamic environment detection
• Interactive environment selection

Enjoy seamless environment switching across all your environments! 🚀