Create-react-app: Question : Is it possible to run `npm start env.arbitrary`

[firaskrichi]

I have multiple env. variables set in different files (external services keys etc...), and I'd like to run the app in development mode with each environment variable easily... Something like

npm start env.demo
npm start env.staging
npm start env.production 
... etc 

Is it currently possible with the CRA setup?

Thank you 🙏

[Timer]

You can use this same method for npm start:
https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/blob/next/packages/react-scripts/template/README.md#customizing-environment-variables-for-arbitrary-build-environments

[firaskrichi]

@Timer this is what I have :

"scripts": {
    "start": "react-scripts start",
    "start:prod": "env-cmd .env.production npm run start",
    "start:demo": "env-cmd .env.demo npm run start"
}

running npm run start:demo falls back to my .env variables and doesn't seem to use .env.demo

Any idea what could be going wrong? Thank you!

[Timer]

Hmm, that's very odd. What do your file contents look like? Can you try react-scripts start instead of npm run start?

[firaskrichi]

I tried react-scripts start but still falls back to the .env file instead of .env.demo
All my .env files are in the root, and look like this :

MAILCHIMP_KEY = "KEY"
REACT_APP_API_URL = 'URL'
REACT_APP_ENV = 'demo'

& now package.json has this but still nothing :

"scripts": {
"start": "react-scripts start",
"build": "react-scripts build",
"build:demo": "env-cmd .env.demo react-scripts build",
"test": "react-scripts test --env=jsdom",
"eject": "react-scripts eject",
"start:demo": "env-cmd .env.demo react-scripts start"
}

[Timer]

I suspect the format might be to blame.

Can you try just uh:

MAILCHIMP_KEY=KEY
REACT_APP_API_URL=URL
REACT_APP_ENV=demo

Also, make sure these variables aren't set in your shell already. Please open a new issue if you have a problem still!