.env.local May 2026

const databaseUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL; app.use(`/${databaseUrl}`);

# .env.local.staging DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@staging-host:5432/staging_database .env.local

# .env.local.development DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/dev_database const databaseUrl = process

require('dotenv').config(); const express = require('express'); const app = express(); const databaseUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL

.env.local is a file that stores environment-specific variables for your application. It's a variant of the popular .env file, which is used to store environment variables for your project. While .env is typically used to store variables that are shared across multiple environments, .env.local is used to store environment-specific variables that override or complement the variables defined in .env .

# .env.local.production DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@prod-host:5432/prod_database In your Express application, you can load the environment variables using a library like dotenv :