auto-envparse

⚡ Automatic environment variable parsing with zero configuration and type inference

Following 12-Factor App principles - Store configuration in the environment without schemas, validators, or manual type conversion. Your object structure IS your schema.

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📋 Table of Contents

• 💡 Why auto-envparse?
• 🎯 Features
• 📦 Installation
• 🚀 Quick Start
• 📖 Type Coercion & Advanced Types
• 📁 .env File Loading
• 🛠️ Custom Validation & Transforms
• 📚 Documentation
• 🎨 TypeScript Support
• 🤝 Contributing
• 📄 License
• 🔗 Links

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💡 Why auto-envparse?

Most environment variable libraries force you to write schemas and validators before you can parse anything:

// ❌ Other libraries: Define schema + types + validators
const schema = {
  host: str({ default: 'localhost' }),
  port: num({ default: 5432 }),
  ssl: bool({ default: false })
};
const config = cleanEnv(process.env, schema);

auto-envparse takes a different approach. If you already have a configuration object with defaults, that's all you need:

// ✅ auto-envparse: Your object IS the schema
import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

const config = {
    host: 'localhost',
    port: 5432,
    ssl: false
};

AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'DB' }); // Done!

The type of each default value tells auto-envparse how to parse it. No schemas. No validators. No manual type conversion. Just works.

Works with Classes Too

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

class DatabaseConfig {
    host = 'localhost';
    port = 5432;
    ssl = false;
}

// Environment: DB_HOST=example.com, DB_PORT=3306, DB_SSL=true
const config = AEP.parse(DatabaseConfig, { prefix: 'DB' });
// Returns a fully populated DatabaseConfig instance

Perfect for existing codebases with class-based configuration.

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🎯 Features

• ✨ Zero Configuration - Object structure defines the schema
• 🎯 Type Inference - Automatic type detection from default values
• 🔄 Type Coercion - String env vars → correct types (string, number, boolean, array)
• 🐫 Smart Naming - Auto camelCase → SNAKE_CASE conversion
• 🏗️ Nested Objects - Full support with dot-notation (e.g., DB_POOL_MIN)
• 📋 Nested Arrays - Arrays of objects with dot-notation (e.g., SERVERS_0_HOST)
• 📁 .env File Loading - Load from .env files with configurable priority
• 🔀 Multi-Source Support - Merge variables from multiple sources (env, .env, .env.local)
• 🔀 Transform Functions - Custom value transformations with external libraries
• 🛠️ Custom Overrides - Add validation or custom parsing when needed
• 📦 Dual Package - ESM and CommonJS support
• 🎨 TypeScript - Full type safety included
• 🪶 Lightweight - Zero dependencies

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📦 Installation

npm install auto-envparse

yarn add auto-envparse

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Basic Usage

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

const config = {
    apiUrl: 'http://localhost:3000',
    timeout: 5000,
    debug: false
};

// Environment variables: APP_API_URL, APP_TIMEOUT, APP_DEBUG
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });

console.log(config.timeout); // Automatically converted to number

Shorter alias: Import as default for shorter code:

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });

2. Without Prefix

Prefix is optional - omit it for global environment variables:

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

const config = {
    host: 'localhost',
    port: 3000,
    nodeEnv: 'development'
};

// Environment variables: HOST, PORT, NODE_ENV
AEP.parse(config);

3. Nested Objects

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

const config = {
    database: {
        host: 'localhost',
        port: 5432,
        pool: {
            min: 2,
            max: 10
        }
    }
};

// Environment:
// APP_DATABASE_HOST=prod.com
// APP_DATABASE_PORT=5433
// APP_DATABASE_POOL_MIN=5
// APP_DATABASE_POOL_MAX=20
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });

4. Class-Based Configuration

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

class ServerConfig {
    host = '0.0.0.0';
    port = 3000;

    getUrl(): string {
        return `http://${this.host}:${this.port}`;
    }
}

// Environment: SERVER_HOST=example.com, SERVER_PORT=8080
const config = AEP.parse(ServerConfig, { prefix: 'SERVER' });
console.log(config.getUrl()); // 'http://example.com:8080'

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📖 Type Coercion & Advanced Types

auto-envparse automatically converts environment variables based on your default value types:

Type	Example	Result
string	DB_HOST=prod.com	'prod.com'
number	DB_PORT=3306	3306
boolean	DB_SSL=true	true (supports: true/false, 1/0, yes/no, on/off)
object	DB_POOL_MIN=5	Nested via dot-notation or JSON
array	SERVERS_0_HOST=x.com	Arrays via dot-notation or JSON

Arrays of Objects:

const config = { servers: [{ host: 'localhost', port: 8080 }] };
// SERVERS_0_HOST=s1.com, SERVERS_0_PORT=8080, SERVERS_1_HOST=s2.com, SERVERS_1_PORT=8081
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });

See API.md for complete type coercion details and edge cases.

---------------|---------|--------|------| | 'localhost' | 'prod.com' | 'prod.com' | string | | 5432 | '3306' | 3306 | number | | false | 'true' | true | boolean | | ['a'] | '["x","y"]' | ['x', 'y'] | array |

Boolean Parsing

Flexible boolean parsing (case-insensitive):

• Truthy: 'true', '1', 'yes', 'on'
• Falsy: Everything else

Nested Arrays

Arrays of objects support both JSON and dot-notation formats. Dot-notation takes priority:

Dot-Notation Format (Recommended):

const config = {
    servers: [{
        host: 'localhost',
        port: 3000
    }]
};

// Environment variables:
// APP_SERVERS_0_HOST=server1.com
// APP_SERVERS_0_PORT=8080
// APP_SERVERS_1_HOST=server2.com
// APP_SERVERS_1_PORT=8081

AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });
// Result: servers = [
//   { host: 'server1.com', port: 8080 },
//   { host: 'server2.com', port: 8081 }
// ]

JSON Format (Also supported):

// APP_SERVERS='[{"host":"server1.com","port":8080}]'
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });

Features:

• ✅ Multilevel nesting: APP_SERVICES_0_CONFIG_DATABASE_HOST=db.com
• ✅ Sparse arrays: Indices 0, 2, 5 → compact array with 3 elements
• ✅ Type coercion: String env vars → proper types in array elements
• ✅ Empty arrays skipped (require template element)

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📁 .env File Loading

Load from .env files with configurable priority:

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

const config = { host: 'localhost', port: 3000 };

// Default: loads from ['env', '.env']
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP' });

// Multi-source with priority (first wins):
AEP.parse(config, {
    prefix: 'APP',
    sources: ['env', '.env.local', '.env']  // process.env > .env.local > .env
});

// Custom parser (e.g., dotenv):
import { parse } from 'dotenv';
AEP.parse(config, {
    prefix: 'APP',
    sources: ['.env'],
    envFileParser: parse
});

The built-in parser supports KEY=value, comments, and quotes. For advanced features (multiline, variable expansion), use dotenv.parse. See API.md for details.

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🛠️ Custom Validation & Transforms

Add custom validation using overrides:

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

const config = { port: 3000, env: 'dev' as 'dev' | 'staging' | 'prod' };

const overrides = new Map([
    // Custom validation
    ['port', (obj, envVar) => {
        const port = parseInt(process.env[envVar] || '');
        if (port >= 1 && port <= 65535) obj.port = port;
        else throw new Error(`Invalid port: ${port}`);
    }],

    // Enum validation (built-in helper)
    ['env', AEP.enumValidator('env', ['dev', 'staging', 'prod'])],

    // Transform values (built-in helper)
    ['timeout', AEP.transform('timeout', (val) => Math.max(parseInt(val), 1000))]
]);

AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'APP', overrides });

Helpers available:

• AEP.enumValidator(key, allowedValues) - Validate enum values
• AEP.transform(key, fn) - Transform values with custom logic

See API.md for complete override examples and helper documentation.

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📚 Documentation

• API.md - Complete API reference with all methods and options
• CHANGELOG.md - Version history and migration guides

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🎨 TypeScript Support

Full type safety with TypeScript:

import AEP from 'auto-envparse';

interface Config {
    host: string;
    port: number;
    ssl: boolean;
}

const config: Config = {
    host: 'localhost',
    port: 5432,
    ssl: false
};

AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'DB' });

// All types are preserved and enforced
const host: string = config.host;
const port: number = config.port;
const ssl: boolean = config.ssl;

Dual Package Support

auto-envparse supports both CommonJS and ESM:

// ESM (import) - Default export (recommended)
import AEP from 'auto-envparse';
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'DB' });

// ESM (import) - Named export
import { AutoEnvParse } from 'auto-envparse';
AutoEnvParse.parse(config, { prefix: 'DB' });

// CommonJS (require) - Default export
const AEP = require('auto-envparse').default;
AEP.parse(config, { prefix: 'DB' });

// CommonJS (require) - Named export
const { AutoEnvParse } = require('auto-envparse');
AutoEnvParse.parse(config, { prefix: 'DB' });

Works seamlessly in both module systems!

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

See GitHub Issues for open tasks and discussions.

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📄 License

MIT © Volodymyr Lavrynovych

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🔗 Links

• 📦 npm Package
• 🐙 GitHub Repository
• 📖 API Documentation
• 🐛 Issue Tracker