How to set environment variable to run webdriverIO script - webdriver-io

Question

I am running my webdriverIO test cases using command
npx wdio run .\wdio.conf.js --spec .\test\intel.test.js
Now I want to pass environment variable for the same like ENV=qa
If I run command like this ENV=qa npx wdio run .\wdio.conf.js --spec .\test\intel.test.js
Getting error:
ENV=qa : The term 'ENV=qa' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the
name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct
and try again. At line:1 char:1
ENV=qa npx wdio run .\wdio.conf.js --spec .\test\intel.test.js
is there any way to set environment variable when we are using npx to run test cases?

Answer 1

Checkout dotenv package -> https://www.npmjs.com/package/dotenv
and read this:
https://nodejs.dev/learn/how-to-read-environment-variables-from-nodejs

Answer 2

you can pass as like in the below command for user,key and baseurl which are all the allowed keys in wdio.conf.js.
npx wdio run .\wdio.conf.js --spec .\test\intel.test.js --user=automation
if you want to use any other parameters (like ENV as you mentioned), pls go with dotenv.

Answer 3

What I would do is set an environment variable in your console (that would work in CI as well depending on the tool your are using)
// In linux for example
export MY_VAR=foo
and in Webdriver.io simply access it with process.env like this
console.log(`MY_VAR value is: ${process.env.MY_VAR}`);
I get (last line)
...
[0-0] alwaysMatch: { browserName: 'chrome', acceptInsecureCerts: true },
[0-0] firstMatch: [ {} ]
[0-0] },
[0-0] desiredCapabilities: { browserName: 'chrome', acceptInsecureCerts: true }
[0-0] }
[0-0] 2022-11-18T16:59:50.392Z INFO webdriver: COMMAND maximizeWindow()
[0-0] 2022-11-18T16:59:50.393Z INFO webdriver: [POST] http://localhost:9515/session/d70c54abaefa7549da6e3946f2b26ce8/window/maximize
[0-0] MY_VAR value is: foo
Quite handy and easy.