PHP dotenv

You should never store sensitive credentials in your code. Storing configuration in the environment is one of the tenets of a twelve-factor app. Anything that is likely to change between deployment environments, such as database credentials or credentials for 3rd party services, should be extracted from the code into environment variables. Basically, a .env file is an easy way to load custom configuration variables that your application needs without having to modify .htaccess files or Apache/nginx virtual hosts. This means you won't have to edit any files outside the project, and all the environment variables are always set no matter how you run your project, Apache, Nginx, CLI, and even PHP's built-in webserver. It's WAY easier than all the other ways you know of to set environment variables, and you're going to love it!