Env Calls Outside Config Analyzer

Analyzer ID	Category	Severity	Time To Fix
env-call-outside-config	⚡ Performance	High	30 minutes

What This Checks

Detects direct env() calls outside config files, which breaks config caching and causes unpredictable behavior.

Why It Matters

• Performance: Config caching doesn't work with env() calls
• Reliability: env() returns null when config is cached
• Best Practice: Violates Laravel's configuration patterns

When configuration is cached, env() always returns null outside config files. This causes features to break mysteriously in production.

How to Fix

Quick Fix (5 minutes)

Replace env() calls with config() calls:

Before:

// ❌ app/Services/PaymentService.php
$apiKey = env('STRIPE_KEY');

After:

// ✅ app/Services/PaymentService.php
$apiKey = config('services.stripe.key');

// config/services.php
return [
    'stripe' => [
        'key' => env('STRIPE_KEY'),
    ],
];

Proper Fix (30 minutes)

Migrate All env() Calls:

1. Find all env() calls:

grep -r "env(" app/ --exclude-dir=vendor

2. Create config entries:

// config/myapp.php
return [
    'api_key' => env('MYAPP_API_KEY'),
    'enabled' => env('MYAPP_ENABLED', false),
];

3. Update code:

// ❌ Before
if (env('FEATURE_ENABLED')) {
    // ...
}

// ✅ After
if (config('myapp.enabled')) {
    // ...
}

References

• Laravel Configuration
• Config Caching

Related Analyzers

• Configuration Caching Analyzer - Ensures config is cached in production