Different environments not working in NestJS

Question

I would like to create a new environment for testing my app. I have a .env file and .env.test file.

This is my app.module.ts file:

@Module({
  imports: [
    ConfigModule.forRoot({
      envFilePath: !process.env.NODE_ENV
        ? '.env'
        : `.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}`,
    }),
    TypeOrmModule.forRoot({
      type: 'postgres',
      host: process.env.POSTGRES_HOST,
      port: parseInt(<string>process.env.POSTGRES_PORT),
      username: process.env.POSTGRES_USER,
      password: process.env.POSTGRES_PASSWORD,
      database: process.env.POSTGRES_DATABASE,
      autoLoadEntities: true,
      entities: [User],
      synchronize: true,
    }),
    AuthModule,
  ],
  controllers: [],
  providers: [],
})
export class AppModule {}

The problem here is that .env.test is never called, .env always runs even though process.env.NODE_ENV returns test. And this is how i set up my package.json file:

 "start:test": "NODE_ENV=test nest start --watch",

This is how my .env.test file looks like

POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
POSTGRES_PORT=5432
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=Random
POSTGRES_DATABASE=db-test

I also tried to hardcode envFilePath: '.env.test', and it still not working. For .env.test file to work i have to rename .env file and then it works fine.

UPDATE!

It works now. What i did was i put

ConfigModule.forRoot({
      envFilePath: !process.env.NODE_ENV
        ? '.env'
        : `.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}`,
    }),

in every module i have in my app.

Answer 1

As you're using the ConfigModule presumably from @nestjs/config you should be using the TypeormModule's forRootAsync method to make sure you use the read .env file.

@Module({
  imports: [
    ConfigModule.forRoot({
      envFilePath: !process.env.NODE_ENV
        ? '.env'
        : `.env.${process.env.NODE_ENV}`,
    }),
    TypeOrmModule.forRootAsync({
      inject: [ConfigService],
      useFactory: (config: ConfigService): PostgresConnectionOptions => ({
        type: 'postgres' as const,
        host: config.get('POSTGRES_HOST'),
        port: parseInt(config.get('POSTGRES_PORT')),
        username: config.get('POSTGRES_USER'),
        password: config.get('POSTGRES_PASSWORD'),
        database: config.get('POSTGRES_DATABASE'),
        autoLoadEntities: true,
        entities: [User],
        synchronize: true,
      }),
    }),
    AuthModule,
  ],
  controllers: [],
  providers: [],
})
export class AppModule {}