Envystic - The Ultimate Dart/Flutter Environment Variable Management Solution

Envystic is a Dart/Flutter package that simplifies the management of environment variables (dotenv) and provides an extra layer of security. With Envystic, you can effortlessly handle environment variables in your Dart and Flutter projects, ensuring cleaner and more secure code.

Features

• Easy Environment Variable Management: Envystic simplifies the management of environment variables by providing a convenient and structured way to define and access them in your Dart and Flutter projects.

• Secure Variable Storage: Envystic allows you to provide an optional encryption key to encrypt the values of your environment variables, enhancing the security of sensitive information.

• Annotation-Based: Defining environment variables is straightforward with the use of annotations. The Envystic and EnvysticField annotations help generate the necessary code for accessing your environment variables.

• Advanced Loading Options: Envystic supports advanced loading options, allowing you to fetch environment variables from various sources, including remote configurations, system environment variables, or pre-stored with an optional security.

• Flutter and Dart Support: Envystic is designed to work seamlessly with both Flutter and Dart projects, allowing you to manage environment variables consistently across different types of applications.

Installation

Flutter Project

flutter pub add envystic && flutter pub add --dev envystic_generator build_runner

Dart Project

dart pub add envystic && dart pub add --dev envystic_generator build_runner

Usage

1. Import the envystic package into your Dart/Flutter file:

import 'package:envystic/envystic.dart';

2. Define an environment variable class using the Envystic annotation and the EnvysticField annotation to customize how a field should be generated and handled.

part 'env.g.dart';

enum RoleEnum {
  editor, author, viewer
}

@envystic
class Env extends _$Env {
  const Env._();

  // you can omit `encryptionKey` if no encryption is needed!
  factory Env({
    String? encryptionKey,
    ValuesPriority? valuesPriority,
  }) = _Env;

  factory Env.define({
    required String key1,
    // The value from 'FOO' in .env will be used
    @EnvysticField(name: 'FOO') int? key2,
    required RoleEnum role,
  }) = _EnvDefine;

  // ignored
  String get drink => 'Coffee';
}

3. Generate the environment variable class using build_runner:

dart run build_runner build

This will generate the necessary code based on the annotations in your codebase.

4. Access the environment variables in your Dart/Flutter code:

void main() {
  final env = Env();
  // Access environment variables
  print(env.key1); 
  print(env.key2);
  print(env.role);
  print(env.drink); // "Coffee"
}

Configuration

The Envystic annotation supports the following optional parameters:

• path: Specifies the path to the environment variables file. If not provided, the default path is .env.
• keyFormat: Specifies the format of key names in the environment file (e.g., .env file). You can choose from different naming conventions such as kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, or SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE.
• generateEncryption: Determines whether to generate the encryptionKeyOutput if it does not already exist. Set this to true if you want Envystic to create an encryption key automatically for enhanced security.
• encryptionKeyOutput: Specifies the file path to use and save the encryption key. If generateEncryption is set to true and this parameter is null, the default path env_encryption.key will be used to store the encryption key. Alternatively, if you set encryptionKeyOutput to null and generateEncryption is not true, No encryption will be applied, and the values will be subjected to a base64 encoding for a basic level of protection.

These configuration options for efficient environment variable management. Customize file paths, key naming conventions, and enhance security with encryption as needed.

EnvysticAll Annotation

The EnvysticAll annotation provides an automatic way to load all keys from the environment file without the need to specify them individually in the define factory constructor.

Example:

import 'package:envystic/envystic.dart';
import 'package:firebase_remote_config/firebase_remote_config';

part 'env_all.g.dart';

int? specialKeyFetch({
  required RemoteConfig remoteConfig,
  int defaultVal = 42,
}) {
  int remoteVal = remoteConfig.getInt("specialKey");
  remoteVal = remoteVal == 0 ? defaultVal : remoteVal;
  return remoteVal;
}

int? specialKeyLoader() =>
    specialKeyFetch(remoteConfig: getRemoteConfigInstance());

@EnvysticAll(
  path: '.env.example',
  encryptionKeyOutput: 'example.key',
)
class EnvAll extends _$EnvAll {
  const EnvAll._();

  // you can omit `encryptionKey` if no encryption is needed!
  factory EnvAll({
    String? encryptionKey,
    ValuesPriority? valuesPriority,
  }) = _EnvAll;

  factory EnvAll.define({
    @EnvysticField(name: 'MY_SPECIAL_KEY', customLoader: specialKeyLoader)
    int? specialKey,
  }) = _EnvAllDefine;

  String get drink => 'Coffee';
}


void main() {
  var envAll = EnvAll(encryptionKey: encryptionKey);
  // Access all loaded environment variables
  print(envAll.specialKey); // this print a value fetched from firebase remote config
  envAll = envAll.copyWith(
      valuesPriority: ValuesPriority(
    custom:
        0, // change this to higher value (e.g: 3) if you want to get from customLoader instead of from .env file
  ));
  print(envAll.specialKey); // this print a value pre-stored in the EnvAll generated class
  envAll = envAll.copyWith(
      valuesPriority: ValuesPriority(
    stored: 0,
  ));
  print(envAll.specialKey); // this print a value retrieved from the running system env MY_SPECIAL_KEY var!
  print(envAll.key1);
  print(envAll.key2);
  print(envAll.foo);
  print(envAll.bar);
  ...
}

It is recommended to use the @Envystic annotation instead of @EnvysticAll. Using @Envystic allows you to specify only the fields needed, reducing class overload and ensuring better maintainability.

Global Configuration

To override null parameters in each annotated class, you can use the build.yaml file or specify command line options when running build_runner. Here's how you can configure the options:

Method 1: Via build.yaml

1. Open your build.yaml file or create one if it doesn't exist.
2. Look for the targets section and locate the $default target.
3. Under the $default target, find or add the envystic_generator|envystic builder and modify the options as follows:

targets:
  $default:
    builders:
      envystic_generator|envystic:
        options:
          # Choose the desired format for the keys: none, kebab, snake, pascal, or screamingSnake
          key_format: screamingSnake
          # Determine whether to generate the encryption_key_output if it doesn't already exist
          # Set this to true to enable generation of the encryption key for dotenv values.
          generate_encryption: true
          # `encryption_key_output` File path to use and save the encryption key.
          # If `generate_encryption` is true and `encryption_key_output` is not set, the default
          # value 'env_encryption.key' will be used.
          # Comment out the line below and set generate_encryption to false
          # to exclude encryption from dotenv values.
          encryption_key_output: env_encryption_output.key

Method 2: Via Command Line

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Use the following command to specify the desired configuration:

dart run build_runner build --define envystic_generator:envystic=generate_encryption=true --define envystic_generator:envystic=encryption_key_output=env_encryption_output.key

With these configuration options, you can customize how Envystic handles your environment variables. The key_format allows you to choose the desired naming convention for the keys (e.g., kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE, etc.). The generate_encryption option lets you decide whether to generate an encryption key for enhanced security, and you can specify the file path using encryption_key_output.

By setting these global options, you can ensure consistent behavior across all your annotated classes, making it easier to manage and maintain your environment variables in Dart and Flutter projects with Envystic.

Methods

T get<T>(String envKey)

Retrieves the value associated with the given envKey from the loaded environment entries. The type of the returned value is inferred based on the actual field type.

Example:

final myValue = env.get<int>('MY_SPECIAL_KEY');

In this example, MY_SPECIAL_KEY is retrieved from the loaded environment entries as specified: integer. If the key does not exist or the value cannot be cast to the specified type, this method will throw an exception.

T? tryGet<T>(String envKey)

Tries to retrieve the value associated with the given envKey from the loaded environment entries. If the key does not exist or the value cannot be cast to the specified type, this method will return null instead of throwing an exception.

T getForField<T>(String fieldName)

Retrieves the value associated with the given fieldName from the loaded environment entries. The type of the returned value is inferred based on the specified generic type T.

Throws an exception if the fieldName does not exist in the loaded environment entries or if the value cannot be cast to the specified type T.

Example:

final myValue = env.getForField<int>('specialKey');

bool isKeyExists(String envKey)

Checks if the provided envKey exists in the loaded environment keys. Returns true if the key exists, false otherwise.

String? getFieldName(String envKey)

Gets the field name associated with the provided envKey. If the envKey exists, returns the corresponding field name; otherwise, returns null.

Important

When using the Envystic package for environment variable management in your Dart/Flutter projects, there are a few crucial points to keep in mind:

1. Envystic relies on the build_runner tool to generate the necessary code based on the annotations in your environment variable class. To ensure that the generated code remains up-to-date with any changes, follow these steps:

• Whenever you make modifications to the annotated environment class, execute the following command to regenerate the required code:

dart run build_runner build

• It's important to note that build_runner does not automatically detect changes in the .env files. Therefore, before running the build command, it's necessary to clean the previous build by using the following command:

dart run build_runner clean

Failing to run these commands after making changes may result in outdated or incorrect code, leading to unexpected behavior in your application.

2. Secure Encryption Key Management: If you choose to use encryption for your environment variables, it is essential to handle the encryption key securely. The encryption key is a sensitive piece of information that should never be committed to version control or exposed in any way. Make sure to add the encryption key file (e.g., env_encryption.key) to your .gitignore or equivalent version control ignore file to prevent accidental commits.

3. Separate Environments: Consider using different .env files for different environments (e.g., development, staging, production). This helps manage different configurations effectively and reduces the risk of using incorrect values in different environments.

Author

itisnajim, [email protected]

License

Envystic is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.