You have to explicitly add !.env.production.local to .gitignore if you want to commit it (which you almost never do).
Some automated deployment pipelines build the application on a isolated runner. Rather than injecting dozens of individual system environment variables through a UI dashboard, a CI/CD script can dynamically generate a .env.local.production file on the runner right before executing the build command. Key Security Rules: Protecting Your Secrets .env.local.production
.env.production is often committed to version control if it contains non-sensitive data (like public API URLs). However, you should never commit secrets like database passwords, Stripe private keys, or AWS credentials. .env.local.production allows you to store these secrets on your production server without them ever touching your GitHub or GitLab repository. 2. Local Production Testing You have to explicitly add
contains environment-specific settings for the development environment. This file can be committed to version control as it should not contain secrets. Key Security Rules: Protecting Your Secrets
You want to run your application locally (e.g., next start or vite preview ) but want to use the live API endpoints, production database keys, or analytics tokens 1.2.5 .
Most frameworks follow a specific "load order" or priority. Typically, it looks like this (from highest priority to lowest): process.env (Actual system environment variables)
(Local, environment-specific overrides) .env.local (Local, global overrides) .env.production (Committed, environment-specific defaults) .env (Committed, global defaults)