README
¶
climate/env
Lightweight environment variable fetching with fallbacks.
env provides a clean, single-function interface for retrieving environment variables. It eliminates the boilerplate of checking for empty strings and manually assigning default values.
Installation
go get [github.com/grimdork/climate/env](https://github.com/grimdork/climate/env)
Why use env?
Standard Go os.Getenv returns an empty string if a variable is not set. This often leads to repetitive code:
// The "verbose" way
port := os.Getenv("PORT")
if port == "" {
port = "8080"
}
With climate/env, this becomes a one-liner:
port := env.Get("PORT", "8080")
Usage
Basic fetching
Retrieve a value or use a supplied alternative if the environment variable is unset or empty.
package main
import (
"fmt"
"github.com/grimdork/climate/env"
)
func main() {
dbUser := env.Get("DB_USER", "postgres")
mode := env.Get("APP_MODE", "development")
fmt.Printf("Connecting as %s in %s mode...\n", dbUser, mode)
}
Integration with CLI flags
A common pattern is to use env to set the default value of a CLI flag, allowing users to configure the app via both environment variables and command-line arguments.
// Use the environment variable as the default for an 'arg' option
p.AddOption("p", "port", "Server port", env.Get("PORT", "8080"))
Best Practices
Environment variables are the preferred way to handle secrets (like API keys) and environment-specific settings (like database URLs). Using env.Get ensures that your application has sensible defaults for development while being fully configurable in production environments like Kubernetes or Docker.
Documentation
Source Files