NODE_ENV not being picked

[ineshbose]

Environment

Node v20/v22 LTS
Windows 10
pnpm v10

Reproduction

import { defineNuxtConfig } from 'nuxt/config';
import { isDevelopment, nodeENV } from 'std-env';

console.log(process.env.NODE_ENV, { isDevelopment, nodeENV });

// https://nuxt.com/docs/api/configuration/nuxt-config
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  compatibilityDate: '2025-08-15',
  devtools: { enabled: true },
});

Running pnpm dev

Describe the bug

Likely not a bug with the package, but I'm trying to investigate.

nodeENV returns an empty string, and isDevelopment is false, despite process.env.NODE_ENV being development. Could you possibly give me pointers on what may be causing my environment to have this? I am happy to investigate myself and report back + close issue.

Additional context

No response

Logs

[kricsleo]

Could you provide a minimal reproduction so I can debug? There are many possibilities for how process.env.NODE_ENV could be assigned by various libraries.

[ineshbose]

I'm not able to reproduce. The project on other systems is doing OK; something definitely in my environment and I am willing to investigate. Any idea where should I look?

[ineshbose]

There are many possibilities for how process.env.NODE_ENV could be assigned by various libraries.

process.env.NODE_ENV is definitely being logged correctly.

[kricsleo]

Does this help?

const original = process.env;

// Put this at the startpoint of the app
process.env = new Proxy(original, {
  set(target, prop, value, receiver) {
    if (prop === 'NODE_ENV') {
      console.trace('-- SETTING NODE_ENV --', value);
    }
    return Reflect.set(target, prop, value, receiver);
  }
});

// Will be printed
process.env.NODE_ENV = 'foo'

[ineshbose]

Sorry for my late reply - thanks for the snippet!

I get 'process.env' only accepts a configurable, writable, and enumerable data descriptor on the last line, but without that, there's nothing being logged. It's odd as I am just starting a Nuxt app.