.env.local.production -

This brings us to the keyword: (often written without the second dot as .env.local.production depending on parser logic).

When running in production mode, the framework looks for variables in this order (top wins): .env.production.local .env.local.production depending on specific framework naming) .env.production (Production defaults, often committed to Git) .env.local (General local overrides) (General defaults for all environments) Common Use Cases .env.local.production

# .env.local.production (not in Git) DATABASE_URL="postgresql://localhost:5432/prod_mirror" STRIPE_SECRET_KEY="sk_test_localDebugKey" NEXT_PUBLIC_ANALYTICS_ID="debug-123" This brings us to the keyword: (often written

📌 : If you’re typing real production credentials into .env.production.local , stop — use a secrets manager instead. This is the species to which

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.myapp.com # This is the default production URL

Notice the last one: . This is the species to which .env.local.production belongs. They are essentially the same file with the words rearranged, though different frameworks prefer different patterns.