What is go-localenvironment?

Go-localenvironment is a small utility for Go programmers who want to load configuration values from local files into their application at runtime. Instead of manually setting up system-wide environment variables or hardcoding settings, you drop a file in your project folder and the tool reads it for you. The tool looks for two types of files: a JSON file called env.json or a simpler text file called .env. Each file contains key-value pairs like API keys, passwords, or URLs. When your app starts, you call a single function that reads those files and makes those values available as environment variables your code can query. If neither file exists, it quietly moves on without breaking anything. This is useful for teams where each developer has different local settings, like database passwords or API credentials, that shouldn't be shared or committed to version control. A startup founder testing an app locally might keep their personal API key in an env.json file, while a PM running a demo could use a different one, without changing application code. It also supports loading custom files if you prefer different names, and can handle multiple files at once for more complex setups. One notable detail is that any variables loaded this way are temporary, they only exist while your app is running and don't permanently alter your computer's environment. If a file contains a variable that already exists on your system, the file's version wins for that session, but the system value stays intact for everything else. For JSON files, nested structures get flattened automatically, so a key nested several layers deep becomes a single variable with underscores separating each level. The README describes this as a straightforward approach for adding basic environment variable management, noting that some teams may prefer handling this during the build process instead.