Environment Variables Validation

Validate process.env on server startup to fail fast if critical configuration is missing.

Defining the Env Schema

Coerce port numbers and check for required secret keys at boot time:

Schema Definition

import { infer } from "subatom-infer";

const EnvSchema = infer.object({
  NODE_ENV: infer.enum(["development", "test", "production"]).default("development"),
  PORT: infer.coerce.number().int().default(3000),
  DATABASE_URL: infer.string().url(),
  API_SECRET: infer.string().min(16)
});

export const env = EnvSchema.parse(process.env);

The Fail-Fast Pattern

Using .parse() ensures that if an environment variable is missing, the server crashes immediately at deployment time with a clear prettified error trace instead of failing unexpectedly at 3 AM.

HTTP & API Validation

Full API Reference

On this page

Defining the Env Schema
The Fail-Fast Pattern