How can I manage different base URLs for different environments in VSCode without disrupting the Continuous Integration process?

Answer

Sure, you can manage different environments in VSCode without messing up your CI process. The trick is to use environment variables and configuration files.

Create separate configuration files for each environment, like config.dev.json for development and config.prod.json for production. Each file should contain the base URL for its environment. For instance, your development base URL could be http://localhost:3000 and your production base URL could be https://ray.run.

// config.dev.json
{
  "baseUrl": "http://localhost:3000"
}

// config.prod.json
{
  "baseUrl": "https://ray.run"
}

Set up environment variables in your CI system for each environment. You could have a BASE_URL variable that changes based on the CI job or pipeline.

In your code, read these environment variables and load the right configuration file. This way, your code will use the correct base URL whether you're running locally in VSCode or during a CI execution.

Here's a TypeScript example:

import * as fs from 'fs';

const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
const configFile = `config.${env}.json`;

if (!fs.existsSync(configFile)) {
  throw new Error(`Configuration file ${configFile} not found.`);
}

const config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(configFile).toString());

console.log(`Using ${env} configuration with baseUrl: ${config.baseUrl}`);

In this example, if you run locally in VSCode without setting NODE_ENV, it defaults to development and loads config.dev.json. During a CI execution, you can set NODE_ENV to production to load config.prod.json.

This approach lets you switch between environments without breaking your CI process. Each environment can have its own base URL or other environment-specific configurations.