.env.dist.local Today

Consider a typical Symfony or Laravel application. When the application boots, it loads environment variables in this order (lowest to highest precedence):

Sometimes, certain features are optional for local development but required in production (e.g., credentials for a third-party monitoring service). The .env.dist might list these as mandatory. A .env.dist.local file can be used to provide "dummy" values for these optional services locally, preventing the application from crashing on startup while avoiding the need for the developer to manually type them in. .env.dist.local

Here are a few scenarios where .env.dist.local is useful: Consider a typical Symfony or Laravel application

The .env.dist.local file!

This ensures that APP_DEBUG=true from .env.dist.local never leaks into your test suite. Docker Compose already supports

Docker Compose already supports .env , but .env.dist.local keeps the blueprint in Git while .env.local stays local.