Answers for "process.env not reading .env file"

node dotenv

require('dotenv').config();

console.log(process.env.MY_ENV_VAR);

dotenv not loading process.env in node

Rename your file to just .env, removing any prefix
require it as early as possible in your application with the code snippet below
require('dotenv').config();

.env file vars nto defined in child directory

const ck = require('ckey');

const userName = ck.USER;     // [email protected]
const password = ck.PASSWORD; // iampassword123
const apiKey   = ck.API_KEY;  // 1234567890