🔐 compress-env

Secure .env File Management Made Simple

A lightweight Rust tool for securely compressing, encoding, and managing .env files in your projects

📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• Why compress-env?
• Quick Start
• Installation
• Uninstallation
• Usage
• How it Works
• Security
• Tips
• License
• Contributing
• Contact & Support

Why compress-env?

Managing environment variables across different development environments, staging servers, and production deployments can be challenging. compress-env solves this problem by:

• Simplifying backup and restoration of .env files with a single command
• Enhancing security with optional password-based encryption
• Preserving directory structures when working with complex projects
• Reducing the risk of exposing sensitive credentials in your version control system
• Working seamlessly across different operating systems

Whether you're a solo developer or part of a team, compress-env helps you manage your environment variables efficiently and securely.

Quick Start

# Install compress-env
curl -L https://github.com/cavaldos/compress-env/releases/download/v0.1.1/compress-env -o compress-env


# Compress all .env files in your project
./compress-env compress

# Restore your .env files
./compress-env restore

Features

• Secure Encoding: Compress and encode .env files with optional password protection
• Directory Structure Preservation: Maintains the original directory structure when restoring
• Selective Compression: Compress specific .env files or all .env files in a directory tree
• Simple Restoration: Easily restore .env files to their original locations
• Password Protection: Add an extra layer of security with password-based encryption

Installation

Option 1: Download and Install Pre-built Binary

1. Download the pre-built binary from the Release page or use curl:

   For Linux/macOS:

   # Download the latest release
   curl -L https://github.com/cavaldos/compress-env/releases/download/v0.1.1/compress-env -o compress-env
   
   # Or specify a version (replace v0.1.1 with the desired version)
   # curl -L https://github.com/cavaldos/compress-env/releases/download/v0.1.0/compress-env -o compress-env

   For Windows (using PowerShell):

   # Download the latest release
   curl.exe -L https://github.com/cavaldos/compress-env/releases/download/v0.1.0/compress-env.exe -o compress-env.exe
   
   # Or specify a version (replace v0.1.1 with the desired version)
   # curl.exe -L https://github.com/cavaldos/compress-env/releases/download/v0.1.1/compress-env.exe -o compress-env.exe

2. Make the binary executable:

   chmod +x compress-env

3. Move the binary to a directory in your system PATH:

   For Linux/macOS:

   # Move to /usr/local/bin (requires sudo)
   sudo mv compress-env /usr/local/bin/
   
   # Or move to ~/.local/bin (doesn't require sudo)
   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   mv compress-env ~/.local/bin/
   
   # Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH
   echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
   # Or if you use zsh
   echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

   For Windows:

   # Create a directory for binaries if it doesn't exist
   mkdir -p $env:USERPROFILE\bin
   
   # Move the binary
   move compress-env.exe $env:USERPROFILE\bin\
   
   # Add to PATH (run in PowerShell as Administrator)
   [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";$env:USERPROFILE\bin", "User")

4. Verify the installation:

   compress-env --version

Option 2: Build from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/cavaldos/compress-env.git
   cd compress-env

2. Build the release version:

   cargo build --release

3. Move the binary to a directory in your system PATH:

   For Linux/macOS:

   # Move to /usr/local/bin (requires sudo)
   sudo cp target/release/compress-env /usr/local/bin/
   
   # Or move to ~/.local/bin (doesn't require sudo)
   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   cp target/release/compress-env ~/.local/bin/

   For Windows:

   # Create a directory for binaries if it doesn't exist
   mkdir -p $env:USERPROFILE\bin
   
   # Copy the binary
   copy target\release\compress-env.exe $env:USERPROFILE\bin\
   
   # Add to PATH (run in PowerShell as Administrator)
   [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path + ";$env:USERPROFILE\bin", "User")

4. Verify the installation:

   compress-env --version

Uninstallation

For Linux/macOS:

1. If you installed the binary to /usr/local/bin:

   sudo rm /usr/local/bin/compress-env

2. If you installed the binary to ~/.local/bin:

   rm ~/.local/bin/compress-env

For Windows:

1. If you installed the binary to your user bin directory:

   # Remove the binary
   Remove-Item $env:USERPROFILE\bin\compress-env.exe

2. Verify the uninstallation:

   compress-env --version

   If the uninstallation was successful, you should see a "command not found" error.

Usage

Usage: compress-env [COMMAND] [OPTIONS]
Commands:
  compress          - Compress and encode all .env files into a single encrypted binary file
  restore           - Decode and restore .env files from the encrypted binary file
Options:
  -o <filename>     - Specify the output filename for compression (default: .env.bin)
  -i <filename>     - Specify the input filename for restoration (default: .env.bin)
  -f <file1> <file2> ... - Specify specific .env files to compress
  -p <password>     - Specify a password for encryption/decryption (optional)
  -h, --help        - Show this help message
  -v, --version     - Show version information

Examples

# Compress all .env files in the current directory tree
compress-env compress

# Compress all .env files with a custom output filename
compress-env compress -o secrets.bin

# Compress specific .env files with password protection
compress-env compress -f ./project1/.env ./project2/.env -o project-secrets.bin -p mypassword

# Restore .env files from the default backup file (.env.bin)
compress-env restore

# Restore .env files from a custom backup file with password
compress-env restore -i secrets.bin -p mypassword

How it Works

Compression Process

1. Searches for all .env files in your current directory and subdirectories (or uses specified files)
2. Aggregates the contents with path information into a single data structure
3. Applies encoding (with optional password-based encryption)
4. Stores the encoded data in a binary file (default: .env.bin)

Restoration Process

1. Reads the encoded binary file
2. Decodes the content (using the provided password if encrypted)
3. Parses the file paths and contents
4. Recreates each .env file in its original location with its original content

Security

When using the password option (-p), compress-env applies a simple but effective encryption to your environment variables. This adds an extra layer of protection for sensitive information like API keys, database credentials, and other secrets.

Tips

Managing Multiple Environments

You can use compress-env to manage different environment configurations:

# Save production environment variables
compress-env compress -o prod.env.bin -p production-password

# Save development environment variables
compress-env compress -o dev.env.bin -p development-password

# Restore the appropriate environment as needed
compress-env restore -i prod.env.bin -p production-password

Backup Before Deployment

Add compress-env to your deployment workflow to automatically backup environment variables:

# In your deployment script
compress-env compress -o backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).env.bin -p "$BACKUP_PASSWORD"

License

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

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Contact & Support

• GitHub: github.com/cavaldos/compress-env
• Author: Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh
• Report Issues: Submit an Issue
• Feature Requests: Submit a Feature Request

⭐ Star the Project

If you find compress-env useful, please consider giving it a star on GitHub! It helps make the project more visible and encourages continued development.