Test process.env with Jest

Jest's setupFiles is the proper way to handle this, and you need not install dotenv, nor use an .env file at all, to make it work.

jest.config.js:

module.exports = {
  setupFiles: ["<rootDir>/.jest/setEnvVars.js"]
};

.jest/setEnvVars.js:

process.env.MY_CUSTOM_TEST_ENV_VAR = 'foo'

That's it.

Another option is to add it to the jest.config.js file after the module.exports definition:

process.env = Object.assign(process.env, {
  VAR_NAME: 'varValue',
  VAR_NAME_2: 'varValue2'
});

This way it's not necessary to define the environment variables in each .spec file and they can be adjusted globally.

In ./package.json:

"jest": {
  "setupFiles": [
    "<rootDir>/jest/setEnvVars.js"
  ]
}

In ./jest/setEnvVars.js:

process.env.SOME_VAR = 'value';

The way I did it can be found in this Stack Overflow question.

It is important to use resetModules before each test and then dynamically import the module inside the test:

describe('environmental variables', () => {
  const OLD_ENV = process.env;

  beforeEach(() => {
    jest.resetModules() // Most important - it clears the cache
    process.env = { ...OLD_ENV }; // Make a copy
  });

  afterAll(() => {
    process.env = OLD_ENV; // Restore old environment
  });

  test('will receive process.env variables', () => {
    // Set the variables
    process.env.NODE_ENV = 'dev';
    process.env.PROXY_PREFIX = '/new-prefix/';
    process.env.API_URL = 'https://new-api.com/';
    process.env.APP_PORT = '7080';
    process.env.USE_PROXY = 'false';

    const testedModule = require('../../config/env').default

    // ... actual testing
  });
});

If you look for a way to load environment values before running the Jest look for the answer below. You should use setupFiles for that.