dotenv-diff 0.2.0

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

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.).

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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

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Installation

pip install dotenv-diff

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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]

╭─ SUMMARY ───────────────────╮
│ Total Files:           3    │
│ Unique Keys:          12    │
│ Incomplete Keys:       3    │
│ Diverging Values:      4    │
╰─────────────────────────────╯
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]

╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ VARIABLE        │ .env.local  │ .env.staging │ .env.production │
├─────────────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ APP_ENV         │ development │ staging      │ production      │
│ DEBUG           │ true        │ true         │ false           │
│ LOG_LEVEL       │ DEBUG       │ —            │ INFO            │
│ DATABASE_USER   │ ********    │ ********     │ ********        │
│ DATABASE_PASS   │ dev_pass    │ prod_pass    │ prod_pass       │
│ PORT            │ 8000        │ 8000         │ —               │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

presence

Show only whether a variable exists in each file.

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

╭───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ VARIABLE        │ .env.local │ .env.staging │ .env.production │
├─────────────────┼────────────┼──────────────┼─────────────────┤
│ APP_ENV         │     ✅     │      ✅     │       ✅       │
│ DEBUG           │     ✅     │      ✅     │       ✅       │
│ LOG_LEVEL       │     ✅     │      ❌     │       ✅       │
│ DATABASE_USER   │     ✅     │      ✅     │       ✅       │
│ DATABASE_PASS   │     ✅     │      ✅     │       ✅       │
│ PORT            │     ✅     │      ✅     │       ❌       │
╰───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯