# How a Simple dotenv Mistake Turned My Express Server Setup into a Headache (And How You Can Avoid It)

![Generated By Open AI](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*mOUB9eNfT19RktPy align="center")

Setting up an Express server is supposed to be straightforward, right? That’s what I thought too. As someone who’s been knee-deep in Docker-based development for a while, I decided to step outside my usual workflow to try out Google Social Login API on an Express server — without Docker this time.

I thought, “Why bother with Docker for a quick trial?” So, I went ahead and set up my project the old-fashioned way. I created a `.env` file and installed the `dotenv` package to manage environment variables. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Here’s what my `app.ts` looked like:

```javascript
import express, { Express } from "express";
import cors from "cors";
import connectDb from "./services/connectDB";
import passport from "passport";
import routes from "./routes";
import bodyParser from "body-parser";
import session from "express-session";
const app: Express = express();
import dotenv from "dotenv";
dotenv.config();
console.log('MONGO_URI in app.ts', process.env.MONGODB_URI);
```

My `.env` file was set up like this:

```plaintext
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=VERY_VERY_SECRET
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=VERY_SECRET
```

When I ran the server, the `MONGODB_URI` printed out just fine in `app.ts`. So far, so good, right?

Then, I moved on to my database connection logic in `services/connectDB.ts`:

```javascript
import mongoose from "mongoose";
console.log("MONGODB_URI: ", process.env.MONGODB_URI);
const uri = process.env.MONGODB_URI || `mongodb://localhost:27017/test`;
const connectDb = async () => {
    try {
        console.log("Connecting String: ", uri);
        await mongoose.connect(uri); // Connect to MongoDB
        console.log("Connected to the database");
    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error);
    }
};
export default connectDb;
```

To my surprise, the `MONGODB_URI` was `undefined` here. Confused, I added the `dotenv` import to this file, and suddenly everything worked as expected. But why was this happening? Why did I have to import `dotenv` in every file where I wanted to access my environment variables?

I went on a hunt through countless blogs, tried different approaches, but nothing clicked. Frustrated, I turned to ChatGPT, thinking, “Why not? Let’s see what it suggests.”

*The solution?*

![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:480/0*t5YMVsR1LSdMf-Tq.gif align="center")

A simple but critical change: import `dotenv` at the top of your main file, before anything else. Just like that, everything started working perfectly.

Here’s the updated `app.ts`:

```javascript
import express, { Express } from "express";
// Updated CODE
import dotenv from "dotenv";
dotenv.config();
import cors from "cors";
import connectDb from "./services/connectDB";
import passport from "passport";
import routes from "./routes";
```

So, if you’re reading this because you’re tearing your hair out over `dotenv` not working in your Express app — stop searching and just move that `dotenv` import to the top of your main file.

***Problem solved.***