Laravel Not Reading .env? Here’s The Right Way to Manage Your App Settings

If you’ve been working with Laravel, you’ve probably used env() to pull values from your .env file. You’ve also seen config() being use...

If you’ve been working with Laravel, you’ve probably used env() to pull values from your .env file. You’ve also seen config() being used. But do you know when to use which? Picking the wrong one can lead to unexpected issues—especially in production.

At first, it might not seem like a big deal. But trust me, if you get this wrong, you could end up debugging for hours, wondering why your .env keys aren’t working. I learned this the after taking a hit. I was integrating WhatsApp API into a Laravel project. Everything was working smoothly on my local machine and testing server — I could send and receive messages without any issues. But as soon as I deployed to production… My API calls were failing with "Invalid token" errors.

After digging through and testing, I found the issue: I was using env() directly in my code.

Why You Shouldn't Use env() Directly

1. .env Values Can Be Overridden in Production

Environments like Docker, CI/CD pipelines, or FrankenPHP, may set system-level environment variables that override your .env keys. That’s what happened to me—my WhatsApp API key was overridden by an external variable and my app never picked up the correct value. It was picking null from the system environment.

2. Laravel Caches Config, Not .env

When you run php artisan config:cache or when the app APP_ENV is set to production, Laravel loads all config values once and stores them in a cache file. After that, it never looks at .env again until you clear the cache.

So if you call env('WHATSAPP_API_KEY') in your application code and later update your .env file, your app won’t see the new value until you clear the config cache.

3. Hard to Maintain & Debug

Imagine you need to rename a key and env('WHATSAPP_API_KEY') is scattered throughout your codebase; you now have to find and update every single instance manually. Worse, if something stops working, you’ll be searching through your entire project to figure out why the value isn’t being read correctly.

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If you ever face issues where Laravel is not reading .env values, env() is returning null, or .env changes aren’t reflecting in your app, this is exactly why.

The Right Way: Use config()

The right way to manage your configuration can save you from a lot of frustration. Instead of calling env() in your application code, store all environment-dependent values in Laravel’s config files.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Create a config file (or update an existing one) in the config folder and use env() here. I was integrating WhatsApp, so I created a file config/whatsapp.php:

   return [
       'api_key' => env('WHATSAPP_API_KEY'),
       'webhook_secret' => env('WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_SECRET'),
   ];
   

2. Store values in your .env file:

   WHATSAPP_API_KEY=your_api_key
   WHATSAPP_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your_webhook_secret
   

3. Now, use config() instead of env() in your code:

   $apiKey = config('whatsapp.api_key');
   $webhookSecret = config('whatsapp.webhook_secret');
   

4. If you change any .env values, refresh the config cache:

   php artisan config:clear
   

5. If you need to rename a key, you wouldn’t have to update many files — just update config/whatsapp.php and clear the cache.

Final Thoughts

• If you’re calling env() all over your codebase, stop right there!
• If you ever face issues where Laravel is not reading .env values, .env returns null, or config cache causes unexpected behavior, switching to config() will solve your problem.
• Using env() in your app logic may break your app by system-level overrides.
• Use config() instead — it’s faster, safer, and cache-friendly!
• It makes updates & maintenance easier.

Avoid debugging surprises when deploying to production. This small habit can save you hours of debugging, make your app more maintainable and let it work as expected in all environments—local, staging, and production. Now, go ahead and check your project. If you find env() calls outside config files, refactor your code today and save yourself from trouble down the road.

Try it out, and thank me later. 😉 Happy coding! 🎉