How to update secrets using node and express

user_11015170 0
Viewed 143

I am working on a node, express and React app. I'm using some external API data but API token is expiring every 24 hours.First I had this saved in the .env file but I can't just update the value and use it to resend my request with a new token. Is there a good way for me to update this secret programmatically (every time my request fails with a specific error message), use it right away without restarting the server and continue using it for the next 24 hours until I have to repeat this process? If this is not possible what is the best way to go about this?

This is how I was trying to update it

module.exports = async function (req, res, next) {
    const config = {
        headers: {
            "Accept": "application/json",
            "api-token": process.env.GEO_API_KEY,
            "user-email": process.env.GEO_API_EMAIL
        }
    }
    try {

        const { data } = await axios.get('url', config);

        if (data.auth_token) {
            process.env['GEO_API_AUTH_TOKEN'] = data.auth_token;
        }

    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error)
    }

};

but this does not update the value in .env file

secret-key express node.js
2 Answers

You can always use a bash command in your node code. This is an example using sed. This will work on most *nix machines.


const { exec } = require('child_process');



module.exports = async function (req, res, next) {
    const config = {
        headers: {
            "Accept": "application/json",
            "api-token": process.env.GEO_API_KEY,
            "user-email": process.env.GEO_API_EMAIL
        }
    }
    try {

        const { data } = await axios.get('url', config);

        if (data.auth_token) {




            exec(`sed -i "" "s/${oldAPIkey}/${data.auth_token}/" .env`, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
              if (err) {
                // node couldn't execute the command
                return;
            }

          // the *entire* stdout and stderr (buffered)
          console.log(`stdout: ${stdout}`);
          console.log(`stderr: ${stderr}`);
          
          //update them in the process so you don't have to restart your app if you want.

          process.env['GEO_API_AUTH_TOKEN'] = data.auth_token;


      });
        }

    } catch (error) {
        console.error(error)
    }

};
user_84801360

You can try having some auxiliary variable. This var when the server starts it will set to the process.env.GEO_API_KEY, and then you can set it new values over time:

let apiToken = process.env.GEO_API_KEY;

module.exports = async function (req, res, next) {
  const config = {
    headers: {
      "Accept": "application/json",
      "api-token": apiToken,
      "user-email": process.env.GEO_API_EMAIL
    }
  }

  try {

    const { data } = await axios.get('url', config);

    if (data.auth_token) {
        apiToken = data.auth_token;
    }

  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error)
  }
};
user_14524600
Related