How to use nodemon with .env files?

I am using an .env file to hold environment variables for the server. This works if I run the server with foreman start. But it doesn't work with nodemon.

I would like to use nodemon instead because it restarts automatically when you modify the server. How can I get nodemon to work with .env files?

I have a production Procfile with:

web: node web.js

So I have created a Procfile_dev file with:

web: nodemon web.js

And when I am at development environment I run:

$ foreman start -f Procfile_dev

It works like a charm and doesn't affect production.

You can get nodemon to directly use the .env with the following command

$: env $(cat .env) nodemon app.js

Be aware that you'll have to restart it if you make changes to .env and it won't like it if there are any spaces in your .env file.

Place your local configuration variables in the .env file and run foreman along with nodemon using the following command

$ foreman run nodemon web.js

Thread necromancy!

Use grunt-env to load environmental variables from your heroku config.

Heroku Procfile

Change: web: node app.js to web: nodemon app.js