Does it matter whether the app reads `.env` directly though?
replyMaybe. How does the application unify different environment variables? Those inherited by the shell, those read from .profile, those set in the process that start the application (be that ./run.sh, a nodejs script, systemd etc...).
replyWhy would it want to? I'd say what you're asking for is actually a code smell. An app should not have a bazillion interlocking ways to be configured, unless there's a strong reason for this!
replyIt's not the app, it's the environment variables that have many ways to be configured.
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