as-a

> Runs a given command with additional environment settings for simple local development

[![NPM][as-a-icon] ][as-a-url]

[![ci status][ci image]][ci url]
[![semantic-release][semantic-image] ][semantic-url]

as-a = run "as a" ...

- 📺 Watch Use Utility as-a To Load Multiple Secrets And Pass To Cypress to see how I pass multiple values via environment variables when launching Cypress test runner.
- 📺 Watch Inject Entire Objects Into Cypress Tests Using as-a Utility

Install

npm install --global as-a

You can run this tool without installing it

npx as-a [section name] [command ...]

You can also install this tool locally as a dev dependency. In that case, it will start faster than using npx as-a ... without an install.

npm i -D as-a
npx as-a [section name] [command ...]

Use

Create a file in your user's home directory .as-a.ini

touch ~/.as-a.ini

Create separate sections for groups of environment settings. For example

``ini ; this is a test section [test] name=test why=just because`

Now you can run any command (with arguments) and add the section as environment variables.

$ npm run env | grep why --- nothing ---- $ as-a test npm run env | grep why why=just because

Recommended to keep private settings for DEV urls, secrets, etc.

`Multiple profiles`

You can even use settings from multiple groups of settings using comma-separated list

`ini [DEV] username=tester password=pass1234 [redis] REDIST_HOST=localhost:4534`

as-a DEV,redis node index.js

`Current folder`

A good practice for me was naming a section after the folder name. For example, if the INI file has the following:

`ini [my-server-repo] DB_USERNAME=user1234`

Then we can inject the variables by running in the folder "my-server-repo" using "."

`/my/folders/my-server-repo: $ as-a . node ./start

`injects section "my-server-repo"`


Use case

Read how to run a Redis server inside the Docker container using as-ain this gist.

`Secret folder`

To better separate secrets from user home folder, you can place the .as-a.inifile into subfolder~/.as-a/.as-a.ini.

`Local file`

Sometimes it makes sense to have a local file .as-a.iniin the project's folder (current working directory) with settings that should override any section from the home folder's.as-a.ini. Just create such file and use it.

Tip: when using a local .as-a.ini file make sure to git ignore .as-a.ini to avoid accidentally committing this file to the repository.

Resolution

- local .as-a.ini + ~/.as-a.ini=> combination, local file wins - local.as-a.ini + ~/.as-a/.as-a.ini=> combination, local file wins - local.as-a.ini=> just this file - otherwise an error is thrown

`Section aliases`

Just like you can use multiple sections, the INI sections themselves can have multiple aliases. For example, you can have the same section under two or more names to avoid duplication:

`ini ; you can use these environment variables by using name "user" or "personal" [user, personal] NAME=... ID=...`

These two commands are equivalent

`shell $ as-a user ... $ as-a personal ...`

`Version`

To see the version of the installed as-a run it without arguments

`$ as-a as-a@2.1.0 > Runs a given command with additional environment settings > for simple local development use : as-a [command with options] example: as-a DEV node client.js --request foo`

`NPM module API`

`$3`

Loads the specified settings sections and returns merged object

`js const {getSettings} = require('as-a') // load sections [db] and [app] getSettings('db,app') // {DB_HOST:...,USERNAME:...}`

`Debugging`

If the settings are not applied correctly, run the command with DEBUG=as-a variable

`$ DEBUG=as-a as-a name command arguments ... as-a loading sections +1ms [ 'name' ] as-a running "npx" with extra env keys +0ms [ 'USERNAME', 'PASSWORD' ] ..``

Read

- watch Use Utility as-a To Load Multiple Secrets And Pass To Cypress
- Keep passwords secret in E2E tests
- recommended to watch Passing the environment variables to Cypress

Small print

- @bahmutov
- glebbahmutov.com
- blog
- videos
- presentations
- cypress.tips

License: MIT - do anything with the code, but don't blame me if it does not work.

Spread the word: tweet, star on github, etc.

Support: if you find any problems with this module, email / tweet /
open issue on Github

MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

[as-a-icon]: https://nodei.co/npm/as-a.svg?downloads=true
[as-a-url]: https://npmjs.org/package/as-a
[semantic-image]: https://img.shields.io/badge/%20%20%F0%9F%93%A6%F0%9F%9A%80-semantic--release-e10079.svg
[semantic-url]: https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release

[ci image]: https://github.com/bahmutov/as-a/workflows/ci/badge.svg?branch=master
[ci url]: https://github.com/bahmutov/as-a/actions