I have recently completed developing a Node application and I am now in the process of deploying it on Heroku. Within my app, I utilize various API keys which are stored in a separate file that is accessed using exports throughout the application. The APIkey file has been added to the .gitignore file to ensure its security. However, upon deploying my application to Heroku, I encountered some issues.
When attempting to access my app, here is an excerpt from the log:
2018-12-19T23:38:14.937951+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Starting process with command
... (remaining log details)npm start
This being my first real application, I acknowledge my limited experience in this area. It is evident that my current approach may not be correct. The primary query pertains to the handling of APIkeys - if they are not supposed to be included and hidden in the .gitignore file, what alternative method should be employed to safeguard these keys while still allowing Heroku to effectively run the application?
Locally, my application runs smoothly by executing npm start with the app.js file. Please let me know if you require additional information.