meteor-public-env

Expose METEOR_PUBLIC_* environment variables to the client as process.env.METEOR_PUBLIC_*, similar to how Next.js handles NEXT_PUBLIC_* variables.

Features

• Isomorphic access: Use process.env.METEOR_PUBLIC_* on both server and client
• Next.js-style naming: Variables keep their full name (no mangling)
• Backwards compatible: Also populates Meteor.settings.public.* (without prefix)
• TypeScript support: Full type definitions included
• Secure: Only exposes variables explicitly prefixed with METEOR_PUBLIC_

Installation

meteor add hexsprite:public-env

Important: Add this package near the top of your .meteor/packages file, before any packages that need to access the environment variables.

Usage

1. Set environment variables

# Server-side (stays private)
export STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...

# Client-side (will be exposed)
export METEOR_PUBLIC_STRIPE_KEY=pk_live_...
export METEOR_PUBLIC_SEGMENT_KEY=abc123

2. Access in your code

// Works on both client and server!
const stripePublicKey = process.env.METEOR_PUBLIC_STRIPE_KEY
const segmentKey = process.env.METEOR_PUBLIC_SEGMENT_KEY

// Also available via Meteor.settings.public (backwards compat)
// METEOR_PUBLIC_STRIPE_KEY -> Meteor.settings.public.STRIPE_KEY
const alsoWorks = Meteor.settings.public.STRIPE_KEY

How It Works

1. Server startup: Collects all METEOR_PUBLIC_* environment variables
2. Page render: Injects them into the HTML as window.__meteor_public_env__
3. Client load: Hydrates process.env and Meteor.settings.public immediately at module load

Security

Only environment variables prefixed with METEOR_PUBLIC_ are exposed to the client. Never put secrets in METEOR_PUBLIC_* variables - they will be visible in the browser.

# SAFE - stays on server only
export STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
export DATABASE_URL=mongodb://...

# EXPOSED - visible in browser, use only for public config
export METEOR_PUBLIC_STRIPE_KEY=pk_live_...
export METEOR_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.example.com

Migration from Meteor.settings

Before:

{
  "public": {
    "stripeKey": "pk_live_..."
  }
}

After:

export METEOR_PUBLIC_STRIPE_KEY=pk_live_...

Access:

// Old way (still works for backwards compat)
Meteor.settings.public.STRIPE_KEY

// New way (isomorphic, like Next.js)
process.env.METEOR_PUBLIC_STRIPE_KEY

Running Tests

meteor test-packages ./

Compatibility

• Meteor 2.x and 3.x
• Works with SSR (server-render package)
• TypeScript 4.x+

License

MIT