No More nodemon or dotenv? Node.js Can Handle It Now

You might not need two popular packages in your Node.js projects anymore.

• Since Node.js 20.6, Node can load .env files natively with --env-file.
• And since Node.js 22, --watch is stable for automatic restarts.

node --env-file=.env --watch app.js

That’s it.

• No dotenv.
• No nodemon.
• No extra setup.

For a simple Node.js app, the runtime can now handle both.
Of course, nodemon and dotenv still make sense if you need their extra features.

📌 Official Node.js docs: Node.js CLI documentation