# How to get environment variables in a custom node
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525
**Category:** General
**Created:** [11 January 2023 10:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525 "2023-01-11T10:27:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@LeungChunChiu](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/LeungChunChiu)
#### Post date: [11 January 2023 10:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/1 "2023-01-11T10:27:59Z")
Hello, I created a custom node, but I don't know how to access environment variables in the custom node
pls help, thanks!
---
### Author:  [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)
#### Post date: [11 January 2023 10:34 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/2 "2023-01-11T10:34:23Z")
You can use:
```javascript
RED.util.getSetting(node, 'ENV_VAR')
```
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### Author:  [@watadarkstar](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/watadarkstar)
#### Post date: [20 January 2023 16:41 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/3 "2023-01-20T16:41:39Z")
> [@knolleary](#):
>
> ```auto
> RED.util.getSetting(node, 'ENV_VAR')
>
> ```
Thanks! This helped. Where is the documentation for this?
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### Author:  [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)
#### Post date: [20 January 2023 16:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/4 "2023-01-20T16:44:51Z")
I thought it was covered in [Using environment variables : Node-RED](https://nodered.org/docs/user-guide/environment-variables) - but that is more end-user facing docs.
We should add something to [JavaScript file : Node-RED](https://nodered.org/docs/creating-nodes/node-js)
---
### Author:  [@ralphwetzel](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ralphwetzel)
#### Post date: [20 January 2023 17:03 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/5 "2023-01-20T17:03:24Z")
Is there a difference to `process.env['ENV_VAR']` ... for a custom node?
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### Author:  [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)
#### Post date: [20 January 2023 17:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/6 "2023-01-20T17:10:29Z")
> [@ralphwetzel](#):
>
> Is there a difference to `process.env['ENV_VAR']`
Within Node-RED, you can set properties that are scoped to individual subflows or flows. They show up as env vars to the nodes - as long as they use `RED.util.getSetting(node, 'ENV_VAR')`. This is why the call includes the node object - so the runtime can look up the right value for that particular node depending on what flow/subflow its in.
---
### Author:  [@ralphwetzel](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/ralphwetzel)
#### Post date: [20 January 2023 19:09 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/7 "2023-01-20T19:09:46Z")
Thank you for this explanation! 👍
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### Author:  [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [21 March 2023 19:10 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/how-to-get-environment-variables-in-a-custom-node/73525/8 "2023-03-21T19:10:01Z")
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