Generating a config from a settings object
Build or fetch the settings as JSON, convert, and you have a file ready to sit alongside the project.
JSON to ENV
Turn a JSON object into .env format in your browser, with keys upper-cased and values quoted where a shell needs it.
Maintained by Roshan.
Use JSON to ENV
Converts JSON into .env in this tab. Configuration files routinely hold hostnames, keys and credentials, so nothing here is sent anywhere.
Values are never retyped as numbers or booleansGuessing types is how a converter turns a postcode of 0123 into 123, or a literal string of false into a boolean. Values are carried across as they were written, and casting is left to you where it matters.
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Browse all developer and data toolsAbout JSON to ENV
Generating a .env file from JSON is straightforward until quoting comes up, and quoting is where a generated config breaks in ways that are hard to trace. A .env file is often sourced directly by a shell, which means a value containing a space, a dollar sign, a backtick or a quote will be interpreted rather than taken literally unless it is protected. A password containing a dollar sign that arrives at the application with a chunk missing is a genuinely difficult bug to find, because everything looks correct in the file. This converter quotes conservatively: anything containing whitespace or a character a shell treats specially gets wrapped and escaped, and everything else is left bare because unquoted is the convention and easier to read.
Work through the input
- Each top-level property becomes one line, with the key upper-cased and any character that is not a letter, digit or underscore replaced, since that is the conventional shape of an environment variable name.
- Values containing whitespace, quotes, hashes, dollar signs or backticks are wrapped in double quotes, because a shell sourcing the file would otherwise interpret them.
- Characters that remain special inside double quotes - the quote itself, the backslash, the dollar sign and the backtick - are escaped individually.
- Simple values with none of those characters are written bare, which is the usual convention and keeps the file readable.
- An empty value is quoted explicitly, so it reads as a deliberate empty string rather than a truncated line.
When json to env is useful
Producing a template for a new environment
Convert with placeholder values to give a colleague the full list of variables they need to fill in.
Check the output
- Only the top level converts. A .env file is flat, so nested objects have nowhere to go; flatten your JSON first if it has structure.
- Key names are transformed. A JSON key of apiKey becomes API_KEY, which is conventional but means the names no longer match your source exactly.
- Types are lost. Everything becomes text, because that is all an environment variable can be.
- Arrays are not represented. There is no array syntax in .env, so flatten or join them before converting.
- Different dotenv libraries interpret quoting slightly differently. The output here follows the most common behaviour, but check against your loader if the values are unusual.
Questions about JSON to ENV
Why are some values quoted and not others?
Only values containing characters a shell would interpret get quoted. Leaving simple values bare keeps the file readable, which is the convention.
Why did my key change case?
Environment variables are conventionally upper case with underscores, so keys are transformed to match. The values are untouched.
Can I convert nested JSON?
Only the top level. Flatten the structure first, since .env has no concept of nesting.
What happens to arrays?
They have no representation. Join them into a delimited string before converting.
Is anything transmitted?
No. The conversion runs in this tab, which matters given what .env files usually contain.
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