> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.pgschema.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# dotenv (.env)

`pgschema` supports loading configuration from environment variables and dotenv `.env` files.

## Overview

pgschema automatically loads configuration from:

1. `.env` file in the current directory (if present)
2. System environment variables
3. Command-line flags (highest priority)

The precedence order is: **CLI flags > environment variables > defaults**

## Supported Environment Variables

pgschema supports all standard PostgreSQL environment variables:

<ParamField path="PGHOST" type="string" default="localhost">
  Database server host
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="PGPORT" type="integer" default="5432">
  Database server port
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="PGDATABASE" type="string" required>
  Database name (required for all commands)
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="PGUSER" type="string" required>
  Database user name (required for all commands)
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="PGPASSWORD" type="string">
  Database password
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="PGSSLMODE" type="string" default="prefer">
  SSL mode for database connection. Valid values: `disable`, `allow`, `prefer`, `require`, `verify-ca`, `verify-full`
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="PGAPPNAME" type="string" default="pgschema">
  Application name visible in `pg_stat_activity`
</ParamField>

## .env Setup

Create a `.env` file in your project directory:

```bash theme={null}
# Database connection settings
PGHOST=localhost
PGPORT=5432
PGDATABASE=myapp
PGUSER=postgres
PGPASSWORD=secretpassword

# Optional: SSL mode (disable, allow, prefer, require, verify-ca, verify-full)
PGSSLMODE=prefer

# Optional: Custom application name
PGAPPNAME=pgschema
```

**Security Note:** Add `.env` to your `.gitignore` file to prevent committing sensitive credentials:

```gitignore theme={null}
# Environment files
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local
```