Server vs Client

vite-env divides environment variables into two buckets — server and client — and exposes them through separate virtual modules. The split enforces a hard boundary: secrets defined in server can never leak into the browser bundle.

Access matrix

Variable type	virtual:env/client	virtual:env/server
Client (VITE_* prefix)	Yes	Yes
Server (no prefix)	No	Yes

The server module includes all validated variables — both server-only and client. The client module includes only the client variables.

The VITE_ prefix rule

Every key defined under client must start with VITE_. This is enforced at defineEnv() call time, before any build starts. If you define a client key without the prefix, you get an immediate startup error:

[vite-env] Client env var "API_URL" must be prefixed with VITE_.
  Rename it to "VITE_API_URL" or move it to "server" if it's secret.

This mirrors Vite's own convention and makes the exposure boundary explicit — anything prefixed with VITE_ is expected to be public.

import { defineEnv } from '@vite-env/core'
import { z } from 'zod'

export default defineEnv({
  server: {
    DATABASE_URL: z.url(), // no prefix required — server only
    JWT_SECRET: z.string().min(32),
  },
  client: {
    VITE_API_URL: z.url(), // VITE_ prefix required
    VITE_APP_NAME: z.string().min(1),
    // API_URL: z.url(),        // would throw at startup
  },
})

Server keys can technically carry a VITE_ prefix, but doing so defeats the purpose: it signals a public variable while hiding it from the client module.

TypeScript boundary enforcement

The generated vite-env.d.ts declares separate module types for each virtual module. If you try to access a server-only variable from the client module, TypeScript will catch it:

// In a client-side file
import { env } from 'virtual:env/client'

console.log(env.VITE_API_URL) // OK
console.log(env.DATABASE_URL) // TypeScript error:
// Property 'DATABASE_URL' does not exist on type
// '{ VITE_API_URL: string; VITE_APP_NAME: string; ... }'

The type error surfaces at development time, not at runtime. The client module's type only declares keys from the client section of your schema.

Importing from the correct module

Use virtual:env/client in browser code and in any file that may be bundled for the client:

import { env } from 'virtual:env/client'

const apiUrl = env.VITE_API_URL

Use virtual:env/server in server-side code, API routes, or build scripts that run only in Node:

import { env } from 'virtual:env/server'

const dbUrl = env.DATABASE_URL
const apiUrl = env.VITE_API_URL // also available here