dotenv-diff

Lightweight tool for quickly spotting missing keys and differing values in .env files

dotenv-diff helps compare multiple .env files and immediately see:

• Which variables are missing in which files
• Which values differ between environments
• A clear matrix overview of all keys and files

It is designed as a simple developer utility for projects that maintain multiple environment configurations (local, staging, production, etc.).

Features

• Compare any number of .env files at once
• Detect missing keys across environments
• Detect diverging values
• Show results in human‑friendly tables
• Three different views: summary, values, and presence
• Works with individual files, directories, and glob patterns

Installation

pip install dotenv-diff

Usage

All functionality is available through the command line interface.

You can pass:

• Individual .env files
• Directories containing .env* files
• Glob patterns like .env.*

Reveal Mode

Environment variables are often quoted in .env files to protect sensitive values or to ensure correct parsing.

When a value is wrapped in quotes, dotenv-diff treats it as masked and hides the actual content in output tables.

Example: SECRET_KEY="secret-value" -> SECRET_KEY ********

If you need to inspect the real values, you can reveal them using the --reveal flag after every command. This will display the actual contents instead of masked placeholders.

Commands

summary

Show a high‑level overview of differences.

dotenv-diff summary /path/to/.env.* [--reveal]

Incomplete Key Details
• REDIS_HOST is missing in:
  ↳ .env.production
  ↳ .env.staging

Diverging Value Details
• APP_ENV
  ↳ .env.local: development
  ↳ .env.production: production
  ↳ .env.staging: staging

values

Show a matrix of actual values for each key and file.

dotenv-diff values /path/to/.env.* [--reveal]

presence

Show only whether a variable exists in each file.

dotenv-diff presence /path/to/.env.*