Skip to content

Commit 976871d

Browse files
mderazonSpaceK33z
authored andcommitted
add a comment about NODE_ENV value set to 'production' during build step (facebook#1625)
* add a comment about NODE_ENV value set to 'production' during build step facebook#790 (comment) * Move words around
1 parent 5209339 commit 976871d

File tree

1 file changed

+8
-7
lines changed

1 file changed

+8
-7
lines changed

packages/react-cy-scripts/template/README.md

+8-7
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -446,13 +446,12 @@ default you will have `NODE_ENV` defined for you, and any other environment vari
446446

447447
**The environment variables are embedded during the build time**. Since Create React App produces a static HTML/CSS/JS bundle, it can’t possibly read them at runtime. To read them at runtime, you would need to load HTML into memory on the server and replace placeholders in runtime, just like [described here](#injecting-data-from-the-server-into-the-page). Alternatively you can rebuild the app on the server anytime you change them.
448448

449-
>Note: You must create custom environment variables beginning with `REACT_APP_`. Any other variables except `NODE_ENV` will be ignored to avoid accidentally [exposing a private key on the machine that could have the same name](https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/865#issuecomment-252199527).
449+
>Note: You must create custom environment variables beginning with `REACT_APP_`. Any other variables except `NODE_ENV` will be ignored to avoid accidentally [exposing a private key on the machine that could have the same name](https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/865#issuecomment-252199527). Changing any environment variables will require you to restart the development server if it is running.
450450
451451
These environment variables will be defined for you on `process.env`. For example, having an environment
452-
variable named `REACT_APP_SECRET_CODE` will be exposed in your JS as `process.env.REACT_APP_SECRET_CODE`, in addition
453-
to `process.env.NODE_ENV`.
452+
variable named `REACT_APP_SECRET_CODE` will be exposed in your JS as `process.env.REACT_APP_SECRET_CODE`.
454453

455-
>Note: Changing any environment variables will require you to restart the development server if it is running.
454+
There is also a special built-in environment variable called `NODE_ENV`. You can read it from `process.env.NODE_ENV`. When you run `npm start`, it is always equal to `'development'`, when you run `npm test` it is always equal to `'test'`, and when you run `npm run build` to make a production bundle, it is always equal to `'production'`. **You cannot override `NODE_ENV` manually.** This prevents developers from accidentally deploying a slow development build to production.
456455

457456
These environment variables can be useful for displaying information conditionally based on where the project is
458457
deployed or consuming sensitive data that lives outside of version control.
@@ -486,6 +485,10 @@ When you load the app in the browser and inspect the `<input>`, you will see its
486485
</div>
487486
```
488487

488+
The above form is looking for a variable called `REACT_APP_SECRET_CODE` from the environment. In order to consume this
489+
value, we need to have it defined in the environment. This can be done using two ways: either in your shell or in
490+
a `.env` file. Both of these ways are described in the next few sections.
491+
489492
Having access to the `NODE_ENV` is also useful for performing actions conditionally:
490493

491494
```js
@@ -494,9 +497,7 @@ if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
494497
}
495498
```
496499

497-
The above form is looking for a variable called `REACT_APP_SECRET_CODE` from the environment. In order to consume this
498-
value, we need to have it defined in the environment. This can be done using two ways: either in your shell or in
499-
a `.env` file.
500+
When you compile the app with `npm run build`, the minification step will strip out this condition, and the resulting bundle will be smaller.
500501

501502
### Referencing Environment Variables in the HTML
502503

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)