There is no difference between development and production in Node.js, i.e., there are no specific settings you need to apply to make Node.js work in a production configuration.
However, a few libraries in the npm registry recognize using the NODE_ENV variable and default it to a development setting.
Always run your Node.js with NODE_ENV=production set.
Why is NODE_ENV considered an antipattern?
An environment is a digital platform or a system where engineers can build, test, deploy, and manage software products. Conventionally, there are four stages or types of environments where our application is run:
- Development
- Testing
- Staging
- Production
The fundamental problem of NODE_ENV stems from developers combining optimizations and software behavior with the environment their software is running on. The result is code like the following:
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
// ...
}
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
// ...
}
if (['production', 'staging'].includes(process.env.NODE_ENV)) {
// ...
}
While this might look harmless, it makes the production and staging environments different, thus making reliable testing impossible. For example, a test and thus a functionality of your product could pass when NODE_ENV is set to development but fail when setting NODE_ENV to production.Therefore, setting NODE_ENV to anything but production is considered an antipattern.