This article will cover everything you need to know: from the anatomy of the .env file, to the " .env.laravel " pattern (using example files and CI/CD pipelines), security best practices, and advanced multi-environment setups. Laravel, like many modern frameworks, follows the Twelve-Factor App methodology, which states that configuration should be stored in environment variables.
BROADCAST_DRIVER=log CACHE_DRIVER=file SESSION_DRIVER=file QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync
chown www-data:www-data .env chmod 640 .env This allows the web server to read but prevents other system users from viewing it. Integrate with a secrets manager (AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault) to rotate database passwords and API keys without downtime. 5. Backup .env Before Deployment A common " .env.laravel " pattern in deploy scripts: .env.laravel
Thus, when someone says ".env.laravel", they almost always mean . Why You Should Never Commit .env to Git The most critical rule: Do not commit .env to version control.
In production, symlink or copy the correct file to .env . Even in .env.example , don’t put real credentials. Use placeholders like your-stripe-secret-key . 3. Restrict File Permissions On production servers: This article will cover everything you need to
$app->detectEnvironment(function () $host = gethostname(); if ($host === 'production-server') $app->loadEnvironmentFrom('.env.production'); elseif ($host === 'staging-server') $app->loadEnvironmentFrom('.env.staging'); else $app->loadEnvironmentFrom('.env'); ); Instead of a physical .env file on production, you can set real environment variables in your web server (Apache SetEnv , Nginx env , or PHP-FPM env ). Laravel’s env() helper checks system variables before falling back to the .env file. Docker & .env.laravel In Dockerized Laravel, you can pass an external .env file:
cp .env .env.laravel-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d) git pull origin main # ... run migrations, etc. Using Different .env Files per Domain You can force Laravel to load a different environment file based on the server hostname. In bootstrap/app.php : Integrate with a secrets manager (AWS Secrets Manager,
.env .env.backup .env.production .env.*.local Always verify that .env is listed. To provide developers a template, create a file with dummy values: