.env.development.local [SAFE]

Most projects use a hierarchy of .env files. While .env.development might contain shared settings for the entire team (like a common development API URL), the .env.development.local file is used to those settings for an individual. Common use cases include:

Remember :

Later files override earlier files. If the same variable exists in .env and .env.development.local , the value in .env.development.local takes precedence. .env.development.local

Connecting to a local instance of PostgreSQL or MongoDB (e.g., DATABASE_URL=localhost:5432 ) rather than a shared staging database. Most projects use a hierarchy of

If you aren't using a frontend framework, you can replicate this behavior with the dotenv-flow package. If the same variable exists in

You cannot change .env.production (it might be committed). Instead, you create .env.production.local . The system respects that you are in production mode, but applies your personal local overrides.