dejeszio•2w ago

Setting Local Development Environment Variables

I don't know how to set the environment variables for my local development environment, I am unable to get bunx convex dev --local --once to work because some application code requires valid environment variables. Is there a solve for this?

5 Replies

Convex Bot•2w ago

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erquhart•2w ago

You can set the variables on your dev deployment in the dashboard

dejeszioOP•2w ago

my dashboard is not getting setup locally, it’s failing i know how to do it in the dashboard but i need to set it before even running convex dev so i want to know if there is a way for me to set the environment variables before i get to the dashboard even support told me that i can use npx convex env - will try So, I have tried but I am getting this error.

x@Jasons-MacBook-Air arb-app % bunx convex dev --local --once       
✖ Error: Unable to start push to http://127.0.0.1:3210
✖ Error fetching POST  http://127.0.0.1:3210/api/deploy2/start_push 400 Bad Request: InvalidModules: Hit an error while pushing:
Loading the pushed modules encountered the following
    error:
Uncaught Failed to analyze _deps/node/PPY4NFXC.js: Unexpected token � in JSON at position 0

x@Jasons-MacBook-Air arb-app % bunx convex dev --local --once       
✖ Error: Unable to start push to http://127.0.0.1:3210
✖ Error fetching POST  http://127.0.0.1:3210/api/deploy2/start_push 400 Bad Request: InvalidModules: Hit an error while pushing:
Loading the pushed modules encountered the following
    error:
Uncaught Failed to analyze _deps/node/PPY4NFXC.js: Unexpected token � in JSON at position 0

I'm not sure if this is my code, or if it's internal code. I have no idea what _deps/node/PPY4NFXC.js is, as I cannot view it. Okay, my fault, my code, I missed a env. So, one thing that I am still not understanding is that when I do convex dev --local --once for the first time, I cannot load envs at all. Not even from a file. I first need to get the local deployment up, and then i can set the environment variables. Am I understanding this correctly? So I have a piece of code that is this:

export function getEnvValOrThrow(name: string): string {
    const val = process.env[name];
    if (val === undefined) {
        throw new ConvexError(`Environment variable '${name}' does not exist`);
    }
    return val;
}

export function getEnvValOrThrow(name: string): string {
    const val = process.env[name];
    if (val === undefined) {
        throw new ConvexError(`Environment variable '${name}' does not exist`);
    }
    return val;
}

At the top of files that require an ENV, i have this code:

const polarAccessToken = getEnvValOrThrow("POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN");

const polarAccessToken = getEnvValOrThrow("POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN");

When I thus run convex dev --local --once it will never start the deployment locally, so I can never set these environment variables.

dejeszioOP•2w ago

So, I am an utter fool. Because the environment for my deployment needs to be configured inside the convex.dev dashboard. I see now that I have my macbook available there as an environment, where i can then add the environment variables. I would suggest we update the documentation, to help guide me that when i do a convex dev --local --once it will render a new machine on convex.dev for the project, so it won't just be production and development. You can then go in there and configure your environment variables. I did not connect the dots with this, and was rather trying to use the .env.local do to this, which is wrong, by design I see. https://docs.convex.dev/cli/local-deployments

Local Deployments for Development | Convex Developer Hub

Instead of syncing code to a Convex dev deployment hosted in the cloud, you can

erquhart•2w ago

npx convex set env should still have worked for you, did it not? And yeah, .env.local is used just for deployment info by the cli, the code in the deployment doesn't get env vars from that file. Have to be defined either via cli or dashboard.

Setting Local Development Environment Variables

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