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Show HN: better-env – A Secure, Developer-Friendly Alternative to .env

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Found: November 23, 2025
ID: 2481

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Show HN: better-env – A Secure, Developer-Friendly Alternative to .env I’ve always hated how archaic .env files feel. Plaintext, easy to leak, and once they hit git history… you’re cooked. After accidentally committing secrets a few too many times, I finally asked myself: why don't we encrypt secrets just like passwords?

So I built better-env: a local, encrypted way to manage secrets without exposing plaintext all over your machine. One place for secrets, nothing sensitive in git, your secrets get directly loaded at runtime, project-wise.

It’s early, local-first, and still rough around the edges, but it already removed a whole category of stress from my workflow. I’d love feedback on whether this feels useful beyond solo devs, and what you’d want for team/CI setups.

It's open source too! (https://github.com/HarishChandran3304/better-env)

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