Production-grade landing page for the EnvGuard VS Code extension.

🛡️ EnvGuard — Smart .env Manager

EnvGuard is a comprehensive environment variable manager for VS Code that helps you manage, validate, and secure your .env files with ease. Stop worrying about accidentally committing secrets, missing required variables, or switching between multiple environments.

✨ Features

🔄 Environment Profile Switching

Quickly switch between development, staging, production, and custom environment profiles with a single click. EnvGuard manages multiple .env files and lets you switch between them instantly from the status bar.

.env.development  → Development settings
.env.staging      → Staging configuration  
.env.production   → Production secrets
.env.local        → Local overrides

Benefits:

One-click profile switching from status bar
Automatic profile detection and management
Visual indicator of active environment
Custom profile creation and management

✅ Schema Validation

Define a .env.schema file to enforce type safety and validation rules for your environment variables. EnvGuard validates your .env files in real-time and shows inline errors for missing or invalid values.

# .env.schema
DATABASE_URL=required|url|secret:true
PORT=required|number|min:1024|max:65535
NODE_ENV=required|enum:development,staging,production
DEBUG=optional|boolean|default:false
API_KEY=required|string|min:32|secret:true

Validation Features:

Type checking (string, number, boolean, url, email, enum)
Required/optional enforcement
Min/max constraints for numbers and strings
Pattern matching with regex
Default value suggestions
Real-time validation feedback

🔍 Secret Detection & Scanning

Automatically scans .env files for 43+ types of secrets and credentials including AWS keys, GitHub tokens, API keys, database passwords, private keys, and more. Get instant warnings when secrets are detected.

Detected Secret Types:

AWS Access Keys & Secret Keys
GitHub Personal Access Tokens
Stripe API Keys
Google API Keys
JWT Tokens
Private Keys (RSA, SSH)
Database Connection Strings
OAuth Tokens & Client Secrets
Slack Webhooks
And 30+ more patterns

Security Features:

Real-time secret scanning as you type
Automatic .gitignore verification
Smart placeholder detection (filters out "xxx", "your-key-here", etc.)
Security score calculation
.env.example file detection (warnings vs errors)

📊 File Comparison (Diff)

Compare two .env files side-by-side to see what variables are missing, different, or unchanged. Perfect for ensuring your .env.example is up-to-date or comparing staging vs production configurations.

Comparison Features:

Side-by-side diff view in webview
Color-coded differences (missing, different, unchanged)
Quick navigation between differences
Export comparison results
Compare any two .env files in your workspace

📝 .env.example Generator

Automatically generate a .env.example file from your existing .env with smart placeholder generation. Secrets are replaced with safe placeholders, preserving the structure while removing sensitive data.

Smart Placeholder Generation:

Secrets replaced with your-<key>-here
URLs preserved with protocol and domain structure
Numbers replaced with example values
Booleans preserved
Comments and structure maintained

💡 Rich Hover Tooltips

Hover over any environment variable to see rich information including schema rules, validation status, secret detection status, and value preview.

Hover Information Includes:

Variable name and current value (masked for secrets)
Schema validation rules and type
Secret detection status
Required/optional status
Default values and constraints
Validation errors and warnings

🚀 Quick Start

Install EnvGuard from the VS Code Marketplace
Open a project with .env files
EnvGuard automatically detects all .env files in your workspace
View the sidebar (click the shield icon) to see all files, keys, and profiles
Click the status bar to switch between environment profiles

Creating Your First Schema

Create a .env.schema file in your project root:

# Required database configuration
DATABASE_URL=required|url|secret:true
DATABASE_POOL_SIZE=optional|number|min:1|max:100|default:10

# API settings
API_KEY=required|string|min:32|secret:true
API_BASE_URL=required|url

# Application settings
NODE_ENV=required|enum:development,staging,production
DEBUG=optional|boolean|default:false
LOG_LEVEL=optional|enum:error,warn,info,debug|default:info
PORT=required|number|min:1024|max:65535

EnvGuard will now validate all your .env files against this schema!

📋 .env.schema Format

Define validation rules using pipe-separated modifiers after the = sign.

Modifier	Description	Example
`required`	Key must be present in .env file	`API_KEY=required`
`optional`	Key is optional (shows info if missing)	`DEBUG=optional`
`string`	Value must be a string (any text)	`NAME=required\|string`
`number`	Value must be a valid number	`PORT=required\|number`
`boolean`	Value must be true/false/yes/no/1/0	`DEBUG=required\|boolean`
`url`	Value must be a valid URL (http:// or https://)	`API_URL=required\|url`
`email`	Value must be a valid email address	`ADMIN_EMAIL=required\|email`
`enum:val1,val2`	Value must be one of the specified options	`ENV=required\|enum:dev,prod`
`min:N`	Minimum value (number) or length (string)	`PORT=required\|number\|min:1024`
`max:N`	Maximum value (number) or length (string)	`PORT=required\|number\|max:65535`
`pattern:regex`	Value must match regex pattern	`CODE=required\|pattern:^[A-Z]{3}$`
`default:val`	Default value if not present	`DEBUG=optional\|default:false`
`secret:true`	Mark as secret (for documentation)	`API_KEY=required\|secret:true`

Schema Examples

# Basic validation
APP_NAME=required|string
VERSION=required|string|pattern:^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$

# Number constraints
PORT=required|number|min:1024|max:65535
TIMEOUT_MS=optional|number|min:1000|max:30000|default:5000

# Enum values
NODE_ENV=required|enum:development,staging,production
LOG_LEVEL=optional|enum:error,warn,info,debug|default:info

# URLs and emails
DATABASE_URL=required|url|secret:true
API_BASE_URL=required|url
ADMIN_EMAIL=required|email

# Secret strings
JWT_SECRET=required|string|min:32|secret:true
ENCRYPTION_KEY=required|string|min:64|secret:true

# Optional with defaults
ENABLE_CACHE=optional|boolean|default:true
MAX_CONNECTIONS=optional|number|min:1|max:1000|default:100

⌨️ Commands

Command	Keyboard Shortcut	Description
`EnvGuard: Switch Environment Profile`	`Ctrl+Shift+E` (Windows/Linux) `Cmd+Shift+E` (Mac)	Switch between environment profiles
`EnvGuard: Scan for Secrets`	-	Manually scan all .env files for secrets
`EnvGuard: Validate Environment Files`	-	Manually validate all .env files against schema
`EnvGuard: Compare .env Files`	-	Compare two .env files side-by-side
`EnvGuard: Generate .env.example`	-	Generate .env.example from current .env
`EnvGuard: Open Dashboard`	-	Open EnvGuard dashboard with overview
`EnvGuard: Refresh Files`	-	Manually refresh .env file list
`EnvGuard: Check .gitignore`	-	Verify .env files are in .gitignore
`EnvGuard: Create Profile`	-	Create a new environment profile
`EnvGuard: Delete Profile`	-	Delete an environment profile

⚙️ Settings

Configure EnvGuard behavior in VS Code settings (Ctrl+, or Cmd+,):

Setting	Default	Description
`envguard.autoScan`	`true`	Automatically scan for secrets when files change
`envguard.autoValidate`	`true`	Automatically validate against schema when files change
`envguard.showStatusBar`	`true`	Show active profile in status bar
`envguard.maskSecrets`	`true`	Mask secret values in UI (show as ●●●●●●)
`envguard.securityScoreThreshold`	`80`	Minimum security score for passing (0-100)
`envguard.excludePatterns`	`[]`	File patterns to exclude from scanning
`envguard.customPatterns`	`[]`	Custom secret detection patterns
`envguard.notificationLevel`	`warning`	Minimum severity for notifications (error/warning/info)

Example Settings Configuration

{
  "envguard.autoScan": true,
  "envguard.autoValidate": true,
  "envguard.maskSecrets": true,
  "envguard.securityScoreThreshold": 80,
  "envguard.excludePatterns": [
    "**/.env.test",
    "**/node_modules/**"
  ],
  "envguard.notificationLevel": "warning"
}

EnvGuard adds a dedicated sidebar with three views:

📁 Files View

Shows all .env files in workspace
Click to open file
Visual indicators for active profile
Quick actions for each file

🔑 Keys View

Lists all unique environment variable keys
Shows count of files containing each key
Click to find all occurrences
Quick navigation

👤 Profiles View

Lists all available profiles
Switch profile with one click
Create/delete profiles
Visual indicator for active profile

⚠️ Issues View

Lists all validation and security issues
Grouped by file
Click to navigate to issue
Filter by severity (error/warning/info)

🔒 Security & Privacy

EnvGuard takes security and privacy seriously:

✅ No telemetry - We don't collect any data about your usage
✅ No external servers - All processing happens locally in VS Code
✅ No secret storage - Secret values are never stored in memory or logs
✅ No network requests - Everything stays on your machine
✅ Open source - Code is available for review
✅ Local-only - All data stays in your workspace

Security Features

Automatic .gitignore verification
Secret masking in all UI elements
Security score calculation (0-100)
Real-time secret detection
Smart placeholder detection to avoid false positives

📖 Common Use Cases

Setting Up a New Project

Create .env file with your configuration
Create .env.schema to define validation rules
Run "EnvGuard: Generate .env.example" to create example file
Commit .env.schema and .env.example to git
Add .env to .gitignore

Working with Multiple Environments

Create .env.development, .env.staging, .env.production
Use status bar to switch between profiles
EnvGuard manages active profile and shows indicator
All validation and scanning works across profiles

Ensuring Configuration Completeness

Create comprehensive .env.schema with all required variables
EnvGuard validates all .env files against schema
See missing or invalid variables instantly
Use diff view to compare environments

Preventing Secret Leaks

EnvGuard scans automatically for 43+ secret patterns
Get warnings when secrets are detected
Verify .gitignore includes .env files
Check security score in dashboard
Generate .env.example with safe placeholders

🎯 Best Practices

Always create .env.schema - Define validation rules for all variables
Use .env.example - Commit example file, never commit actual .env
Add .env to .gitignore - EnvGuard will remind you if you forget
Use profiles - Separate configurations for dev/staging/prod
Review security score - Aim for 80+ security score
Validate regularly - Run validation before deploying
Check diffs - Compare environments to ensure consistency

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to contribute to EnvGuard:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Reporting Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub with:

Clear description of the problem or feature
Steps to reproduce (for bugs)
Expected vs actual behavior
VS Code version and OS

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🌟 Why EnvGuard?

Managing environment variables shouldn't be complicated. EnvGuard provides a complete solution for:

✅ Developers - Quick profile switching and real-time validation
✅ Teams - Consistent environment configuration across projects
✅ DevOps - Security scanning and configuration validation
✅ Security - Prevent secret leaks before they happen

📞 Support

Made with ❤️ for the VS Code community

EnvGuard — Smart .env Manager