$app->detectEnvironment(function () $host = gethostname(); if ($host === 'production-server') $app->loadEnvironmentFrom('.env.production'); elseif ($host === 'staging-server') $app->loadEnvironmentFrom('.env.staging'); else $app->loadEnvironmentFrom('.env');

When Laravel boots, it loads this file using the Dotenv library (specifically vlucas/phpdotenv ) and pushes each variable into $_ENV and getenv() . You can then access them anywhere using env('APP_NAME') or config('app.name') .

Since the .env file contains sensitive information, it must be handled with extreme care. A. Never Commit .env to Git

A .env file is a simple text file that stores environment variables for your application. It's a common practice in software development to use environment variables to store sensitive information, such as database credentials, API keys, and other secrets.

In production, parsing the .env file on every request adds overhead. To optimize performance: