Move to .env and .env.local and away from .env.example

[coyotte508]

Describe the problem

I'm always frustrated when cloning a sveltekit project with an environment.

I need to manually create a .env file, so that the typescript errors from importing on $env/static/private go away. Eg cp .env.example .env.

Why can't I just pnpm install && pnpm dev after cloning 😬

Describe the proposed solution

From the way SvelteKit handles environment, it would make sense to change this in the starter template's .gitignore:

• ignore .env.local and .env.*.local, that's where the secrets or custom configs will be
• do not ignore .env or .env.{production,development,test} : commit .env to the project by default! It should only contain non-sensitive default values.

SvelteKit refers to how Vite handles env

The .env.*.local files overrides the .env files, and Vite recommend ignoring the local files but not the other.

So you can have:

• The default values in .env (and empty strings eg SECRET= for secrets, so that TS is happy)
• Select env variables .env.local: secrets & custom overrides

Alternatives considered

Change SvelteKit to load default env from .env.example to make TS happy, but it's a breaking change.

Here only the docs + starter template need to be changed.

Importance

would make my life easier

Additional Information

Original comment here: #2925 (comment)

[dummdidumm]

The decision to ignore .env by default which many people also use for sensitive environment variables outweighs the minor inconvenience of having to copy over stuff from a .env.example file - therefore closing. You are of course free to adjust this for your own project and modify the .gitignore that create-svelte produces.