better-env

better-env

A Secure, Developer-Friendly Alternative to .env

16 followers

better-env is a CLI tool that manages environment variables securely using OpenPGP encryption. Store secrets once in a global encrypted store, link them to projects via commit-safebetter-env files, and load them at runtime, no plaintext to be found anywhere.
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Harish Chandran

Hey Product Hunt! 👋
I'm Harish, the maker of better-env, and I'm excited to share it with you!


Have you ever thought about how fundamentally flawed .env files are? They're plaintext, easy to commit, scattered across projects, and a security risk waiting to happen. I've lost count of the times I've panicked after accidentally committing a `.env` file or struggled to manage secrets across multiple projects.

That's exactly why I built better-env: a secure CLI tool that manages environment variables using PGP encryption, eliminating plaintext secrets from your repos entirely.

🔐 What it does:

  • Global encrypted store - Store all your secrets once in a secure, PGP-encrypted location on your machine.

  • Zero plaintext - No .env files needed in your projects. Secrets decrypt only at runtime when you need them.

  • Commit-safe - `.better-env` files contain only key names (no values), so they're completely safe to commit.

  • Per-project selection - Choose which secrets each project uses with simple commands.

⚡ Why it's useful:

  • Never accidentally commit secrets again - even if you commit `.better-env`, it has no sensitive data.

  • Centralized secret management - one encrypted store for all your projects.

  • Works seamlessly with your workflow - use bnv shell or bnv run to inject secrets.

  • No complex infrastructure - just a simple CLI tool that encrypts locally.


🚀 Try better-env now - It's Free and Open Source!


Would love your feedback, thoughts, or feature requests. I'm building this for developers like you 😃, and your input means a lot. Let's talk! 🙌

Cheers,
Harish

Chilarai M

Amazing. It's a great idea, and yes, .env is really problematic.
I'll try this one out