When developing cross-platform Node.js applications/testing frameworks, environment variables can sometimes cause frustrating issues—especially when switching between Windows, macOS, and Linux. That’s where cross-env comes to the rescue.
In this tutorial, we’ll explore what cross-env is, why you need it, and how to integrate it into your project.
What is cross-env?
cross-env is a simple npm package that allows you to set environment variables across different platforms in a consistent way.
Why is it needed?
Different operating systems handle environment variables differently:
Unix-based systems (Linux/macOS): You can set variables like
NODE_ENV=production.Windows: That same syntax doesn’t work. Windows uses a different method (
set NODE_ENV=production).
So if you have a script like this in your package.json:“scripts”: {
“start”: “NODE_ENV=production node server.js”
}
It will break on Windows. Enter cross-env.
Installing cross-env
To install it, use either npm or Yarn:
npm install --save-dev cross-env
# or
yarn add --dev cross-env
This adds it as a development dependency, since it’s only needed during script execution.
How to use it
Simply prefix your command with cross-env, and it will take care of setting the environment variable appropriately for any OS.
Without cross-env (UNIX-only)
"scripts": {
"start": "NODE_ENV=production node server.js"
}With cross-env (cross-platform)
"scripts": {
"start": "npx cross-env NODE_ENV=production node server.js"
}That’s it. Now it works the same on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
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