envconfig

A small, dependency-free Go library for loading configuration from environment variables directly into your structs.

It supports nested structs, prefixes, defaults, required fields, slices, maps, arrays, pointers, durations, and custom (un)marshalers. A helper is provided to read variables from a .env file.

• Zero dependencies
• Simple, tag-driven API
• Works with standard os.LookupEnv or a custom lookups
• Optional .env file loader (supports comments, export, quoting, inline comments)

Installation

go get github.com/struct0x/envconfig

Quick start

package main

import (
	"fmt"

	"github.com/struct0x/envconfig"
)

type HTTPServer struct {
	Host    string            `env:"HOST" envDefault:"127.0.0.1"`
	Port    int               `env:"PORT" envRequired:"true"`
	Enabled bool              `env:"ENABLED"`
	Tags    []string          `env:"TAGS"`    // "a,b,c" -> []string{"a","b","c"}
	Headers map[string]string `env:"HEADERS"` // "k1=v1,k2=v2"
}

func main() {
	var cfg HTTPServer

	// Use OS environment by default
	if err := envconfig.Read(&cfg); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	fmt.Printf("%+v\n", cfg)
}

Example environment:

export PORT=8080
export ENABLED=true
export TAGS="alpha,beta"
export HEADERS="X-Req=abc,X-Trace=on"

Using a .env file

Use EnvFileLookup to source values from a .env file. Lines use KEY=VALUE, support comments and export statements, and handle quoted values with inline comments.

package main

import (
	"fmt"

	"github.com/struct0x/envconfig"
)

type App struct {
	Name string `env:"NAME" envDefault:"demo"`
	Port int    `env:"PORT" envRequired:"true"`
}

func main() {
	var cfg App
	
	if err := envconfig.Read(&cfg, envconfig.EnvFileLookup(".env")); err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	fmt.Printf("%+v\n", cfg)
}

Notes:

• If both the .env file and the OS define a key, the .env value wins for that lookup.
• EnvFileLookup panics if the file cannot be read.

Tags

Add struct field tags to control how values are loaded:

• env: the env variable name. Use env:"-" to skip a field.
• envDefault: fallback value if the variable is not set.
• envRequired:"true": marks the field as required, returns error when not set, and no default provided.
• envPrefix: only for struct-typed fields; prepends a prefix (with underscore) for all nested fields under that struct.

Precedence per field:

1. Value from lookupEnv(name)
2. envDefault (if present)
3. Error if envRequired:"true"

Examples

Basic tags:

package main

type DB struct {
	Host string `env:"DB_HOST" envDefault:"localhost"`
	Port int    `env:"DB_PORT" envRequired:"true"`
}

Nested with prefix:

package main

type SubConfig struct {
	Enabled bool   `env:"ENABLED"`
	Mode    string `env:"MODE" envDefault:"safe"`
}

type Root struct {
	Name string     `env:"NAME"`
	Sub  *SubConfig `envPrefix:"SUB"` // Reads SUB_ENABLED, SUB_MODE
}

Skipping a field:

package main

type T struct {
	Ignored string `env:"-"`
}

Supported types

• string, bool
• Integers: int, int8, int16, int32, int64
• Unsigned integers: uint, uint8, uint16, uint32, uint64
• Floats: float32, float64
• time.Duration via time.ParseDuration
• Arrays and slices (comma-separated values): "a,b,c"
• Maps (comma-separated key=value pairs): "k1=v1,k2=v2"
• Pointers to supported types (allocated when needed)
• Custom types implementing any of:
  • encoding.TextUnmarshaler
  • encoding.BinaryUnmarshaler
  • json.Unmarshaler

If a value cannot be parsed into the target type, Read returns a descriptive error.

Custom lookup (probably don't need this)

You can provide any lookup function with signature func(string) (string, bool) — for example, a map-based lookup in tests:

package main

import (
	"github.com/struct0x/envconfig"
)

func mapLookup(m map[string]string) func(string) (string, bool) {
	return func(k string) (string, bool) { v, ok := m[k]; return v, ok }
}

type C struct {
	N int `env:"N"`
}

func main() {
	var c C
	_ = envconfig.Read(&c, mapLookup(map[string]string{"N": "42"}))
}

Error handling

Read returns an error when:

• The holder is not a non-nil pointer to a struct
• A required field is missing and no default is provided
• A value cannot be parsed into the target type

Errors include the env variable name and context to aid debugging.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.