like-gold

Environment Variables Issue with TanStack Start v1.129.7

Hi! I deployed a new TanStack Start app (v1.129.7) and noticed it no longer uses Vinxi. I'm having problems accessing environment variables in server-side code during pnpm run dev. Can anyone point me to resources for solving or diagnosing this issue? I've already checked the Vite env guide, but nothing seems amiss. Sample Code

export const getRecords = createServerFn({ 
  method: "GET", 
  response: "data", 
  type: "dynamic" 
})
  .validator(
    z.object({
      period: z.enum(["hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "all_time"]),
    }),
  )
  .handler(async ({ data }) => {
    console.log("SERVER", import.meta.env.VITE_APP_URL);
    console.log("SERVER", import.meta.env.POCKETBASE_URL);
    console.log("SERVER", process.env.POCKETBASE_URL);
    console.log("SERVER", import.meta.env.MODE);
    // ...
  });

export const getRecords = createServerFn({ 
  method: "GET", 
  response: "data", 
  type: "dynamic" 
})
  .validator(
    z.object({
      period: z.enum(["hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "all_time"]),
    }),
  )
  .handler(async ({ data }) => {
    console.log("SERVER", import.meta.env.VITE_APP_URL);
    console.log("SERVER", import.meta.env.POCKETBASE_URL);
    console.log("SERVER", process.env.POCKETBASE_URL);
    console.log("SERVER", import.meta.env.MODE);
    // ...
  });

Issue During pnpm run dev: - Variables are defined when using process.env - Variables are undefined when using import.meta.env My theory: createServerFn might be treated as client-side code since the test env VITE_APP_URL is defined. Is there a way to check if this is the case? Note: Same behavior occurs with pnpm run build && pnpm run start Configuration vite.config.ts:

import { tanstackStart } from "@tanstack/react-start/plugin/vite";
import viteReact from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import tsConfigPaths from "vite-tsconfig-paths";

export default defineConfig({
  server: {
    port: 3000,
  },
  plugins: [
    tsConfigPaths({
      projects: ["./tsconfig.json"],
    }),
    tanstackStart({ customViteReactPlugin: true }),
    viteReact(),
  ],
  envPrefix: "VITE_",
});

import { tanstackStart } from "@tanstack/react-start/plugin/vite";
import viteReact from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import tsConfigPaths from "vite-tsconfig-paths";

export default defineConfig({
  server: {
    port: 3000,
  },
  plugins: [
    tsConfigPaths({
      projects: ["./tsconfig.json"],
    }),
    tanstackStart({ customViteReactPlugin: true }),
    viteReact(),
  ],
  envPrefix: "VITE_",
});

package.json (relevant parts):

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "vite dev",
    "build": "vite build && tsc --noEmit",
    "start": "node .output/server/index.mjs"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@tanstack/react-start": "^1.129.7",
    // ... other deps
  }
}

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "vite dev",
    "build": "vite build && tsc --noEmit",
    "start": "node .output/server/index.mjs"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@tanstack/react-start": "^1.129.7",
    // ... other deps
  }
}

.env sample

POCKETBASE_URL=http://localhost:8090
POCKETBASE_EMAIL=example@exampe.com
POCKETBASE_PASSWORD=password123
VITE_APP_URL=http://example.com

POCKETBASE_URL=http://localhost:8090
POCKETBASE_EMAIL=example@exampe.com
POCKETBASE_PASSWORD=password123
VITE_APP_URL=http://example.com

Any insights would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

26 Replies

like-goldOP•5mo ago

this is the console output for the server-side sample code

like-goldOP•5mo ago

I got it working by using loadEnv in my vite.config.ts and just using process.env for env variables in server-side code https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70709987/how-to-load-environment-variables-from-env-file-using-vite is this the recommended approach? still unsure why it wasn't working at first

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

this is what i have been doing for a long time yes

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

extended-salmon•5mo ago

You mentioned the VITE_APP_URL worked. With vite you have to prefix your variable names in .env with VITE_ . check the vite docx

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

do beware that VITE_ env are basically compile time macros though you can't expect them to be read at runtime they're all replaced by the value from the env at compile time compile time as in bundle time

like-goldOP•5mo ago

my understanding is that these would also be exposed to the client side, which was not something I intended to do for security purposes

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

exactly yes

useful-bronze•5mo ago

hey folks, I'm a bit lost here 😅 i'm using cloudflare to deploy tanstack start import.meta.env vars prefixed with VITE are available during SSR and in the client in dev, but are gone in prod process env vars without prefix are availabe during SSR in both dev and prod but are gone in client (probably because missing VITE prefix) but VITE prefixed env vars are not available in process.env i'm just really confused what how I should handle env vars with cloudflare 😅 any idea what the best and safest solution is without me accidently leaking secrets?

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

1. where does the build occur ? 2. did you set the env where the build occurs ? 3. are you aware that VITE env vars are NOT runtime env vars, but bundle/build time vars ? If you really want runtime client env vars, then you will have to have non VITE prefixed vars, and get them via requests (server functions for example)

broad-brown•5mo ago

@notKamui want to contribute docs about environment handling in start? build time vs runtime, client vs server, how to validate etc?

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

with the amount of time this has been brought up and i answered, i probably will haha

broad-brown•5mo ago

looks like we recently got some docs https://github.com/TanStack/router/commit/4f802cf1c0cab97a86cc3f3d4f18821ae0b6bf2e can you please check whether this aligns with your experience?

GitHub

docs: env vars (#4777) · TanStack/router@4f802cf

Add a detailed plan for a new &#39;How to Use Environment Variables&#39; guide because it addresses a critical and frequently asked topic that is currently under-documented. --- [Open in ...

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

sure i think it’s pretty good, but to avoid more questions i would emphasize in the « issues » sections that VITE_ will never be read at runtime, because this seems to be THE most common issues people have. I know Tanner mentioned it, but i feel this could be more detailed and explicit, with examples and situations Like, he mentions getting runtime env from server side, but no examples provided and that’s only mentioned in the router docs, not start even there’s a pretty « default » way of doing it with sever functions

broad-brown•5mo ago

can you add this via a PR?

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

not right now but probably tomorrow yes

broad-brown•5mo ago

no hurry

useful-bronze•5mo ago

thank you for your time 🙏 1. it's build in cloudflare 2. yes, all env vars are set in cloudflare 3. meaning they will be inlined during build, correct? Yes, I'm aware of that the confusion I have is process.env vs import.meta.env, because apparently they are not inlined during build? let me double check this though, I might have fiddled around too much. my question though is, how do should I use env vars? should I use process.env in server functions and import.meta.env client side? could you maybe show me your /src/lib/env set up? I'm assuming you're using something like zod or t3-oss/env? Also, happy to help with the docs once I also figured it out 😅

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

https://github.com/notkamui/miniverso

GitHub

GitHub - notKamui/miniverso: Self-hostable grouping of mini web app...

Self-hostable grouping of mini web applications for everyday use - notKamui/miniverso

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

yes process.env on the server and import.meta.env on the client i’m using t3 env do check out the vite config though this is where i explicitly load the env for validation

useful-bronze•5mo ago

gotcha, I have the feeling that my issue is a cloudflare deployment issue, I just double checked and import.meta.env is not available after deployment thanks for sharing the code 🙏

fair-rose•5mo ago

I deploy from a docker image which has configurable env vars. This probably similar to what you want? I essentially use the root loader to get the vars using process.env then I hydrate client state with them So it gets the vars on initial SSR load, then you just have to store those results. I don't know how you're storing client state, so it would depend. I'm using jotai and stroing the results are as simple as:

  const { env } = Route.useLoaderData();
  useHydrateAtoms([[envAtom, env]]);

  const { env } = Route.useLoaderData();
  useHydrateAtoms([[envAtom, env]]);

With the loader:

  loader: async () => {
    const env = getEnvVars();
    return { env };
  }

  loader: async () => {
    const env = getEnvVars();
    return { env };
  }

The getEnvVars just returning some keys from process.env You could also check if import.meta.env.SSR is true in the loader so that it won't try to get env vars on the client again (or potentially throw error while it tries to mes with process.env)

useful-bronze•5mo ago

thanks for the snippet, the solution makes sense I feel like there must be a way to still inline VITE env vars though? the workaround could potentially make it easier to accidentally leak secrets well i'm just really stupid... the env vars were indeed not available during build, in cloudflare there's a different section for build env vars, now everything works as expected. 🤦 thanks everyone for the help 😅

fair-rose•5mo ago

Inline VITE_ vars won't allow you to change env vars after the build step, which is what I needed. I needed to build it just once but still change things with env vars. But if you build it on deploy with known env vars, than I'd use them.

foreign-sapphire•5mo ago

great, glad it worked for you

extended-salmon•2mo ago

this saved me. it works fine locally because I have a .env file but not on production. Had to include the VITE_ envs in dockerfile and asked the devops guys to add them in docker build command

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Environment Variables Issue with TanStack Start v1.129.7

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