🎯 Introduction

Environment variables are the backbone of professional test automation - they're your secret weapon for creating flexible, secure, and maintainable test frameworks! 🔐

💡 What are Environment Variables?: Configuration values stored outside your code that control how your application behaves in different environments

🚀 Why Environment Variables Matter

Environment variables provide several critical benefits:

• 🔒 Security - Keep sensitive data out of your codebase
• 🎯 Flexibility - Switch between environments seamlessly
• 🔧 Maintainability - Centralized configuration management
• 👥 Team Collaboration - Consistent setup across team members

📦 Installing dotenv

First, let's install the dotenv package to manage our environment variables:

npm install dotenv
npm install --save-dev @types/dotenv

💡 Pro Tip: The @types/dotenv package provides TypeScript support for better development experience

📁 Create Environment Files Structure

Step 1: Create Environment Folder

In your project's root directory, create an env folder and separate .env.environmentName files:

project-root/
├── env/
│   ├── .env.dev
│   ├── .env.staging  
│   ├── .env.prod
│   └── .env.example
├── tests/
└── playwright.config.ts

Step 2: Define Environment Variables

Create your environment-specific files with the following structure:

📄 .env.dev

URL=https://conduit.bondaracademy.com/
API_URL=https://conduit-api.bondaracademy.com/
USER_NAME=yourDevName
EMAIL=dev@example.com
PASSWORD=yourDevPassword

📄 .env.staging

URL=https://staging.conduit.bondaracademy.com/
API_URL=https://staging-api.conduit.bondaracademy.com/
USER_NAME=yourStagingName
EMAIL=staging@example.com
PASSWORD=yourStagingPassword

📄 .env.example (Template file)

URL=
API_URL=
USER_NAME=
EMAIL=
PASSWORD=

⚠️ Important: Keep different values for every environment to ensure proper isolation! Only dev URL is working, files for other environments are only for demonstration purposes.

🔒 Exclude Environment Files from Version Control

Step 1: Update .gitignore

Add the following lines to your .gitignore file:

# Environment files
.env.*
!.env.example

🛡️ Security Best Practice: Never commit actual environment files to version control. Only commit the .env.example template

⚙️ Configure Environment Utilization

Step 1: Import dotenv in playwright.config.ts

Add the import at the top of your playwright.config.ts file:

import dotenv from 'dotenv';

Step 2: Configure Environment Loading

Add this configuration logic to your playwright.config.ts:

// Determine which environment file to load
const environmentPath = process.env.ENVIRONMENT 
    ? `./env/.env.${process.env.ENVIRONMENT}`
    : `./env/.env.dev`; // Default to dev environment

// Load the environment variables
dotenv.config({
    path: environmentPath,
});

💡 How it works:

• If ENVIRONMENT is set, it loads .env.{ENVIRONMENT}
• If not set, it defaults to .env.dev

🎮 Using Environment Variables

Step 1: Set Environment (Optional)

To use a specific environment, set the environment variable before running tests:

Windows (PowerShell):

$env:ENVIRONMENT='staging'

macOS/Linux:

export ENVIRONMENT=staging

Step 2: Verify Environment Setting

Check which environment is active:

Windows:

echo $env:ENVIRONMENT

macOS/Linux:

echo $ENVIRONMENT

Step 3: Access Variables in Tests

Use environment variables in your test files:

// Basic usage
const url = process.env.URL;
const apiUrl = process.env.API_URL;

// With type safety and defaults
const baseUrl = process.env.URL || 'http://localhost:3000';
const username = process.env.USER_NAME || 'defaultUser';

🎯 What's Next?

In the next article we will dive into Design Patterns - choosing between POM and Functional Helpers!

💬 Community: Please feel free to initiate discussions on this topic, as every contribution has the potential to drive further refinement.

✨ Ready to supercharge your testing skills? Let's continue this journey together!