ReferenceError: DATABASE_URL is not defined when trying to connect to heroku postgres db using Sequelize

Question

I'm trying to host my Node.js API using Sequelize on Heroku. I'm receiving a reference error that DATABASE_URL is not defined. I created an add-on postgres database and see it there when I reveal config vars.

My config.js file:

require('dotenv').config();
module.exports = {
  development: {
    database: process.env.DATABASE,
    dialect: "postgres",
    password: process.env.DATABASE_PASSWORD
  },
  test: {
    database: process.env.DATABASE,
    dialect: "postgres"
  },
  production: {
    use_env_variable: DATABASE_URL,
    dialect: "postgres",
    dialectOptions: {
      ssl: {
        require: true,
        rejectUnauthorized: false
      }
    }
  }
}

my models/index.js file:

'use strict';

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');
const Sequelize = require('sequelize');
const basename = path.basename(__filename);
const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';
const config = require(__dirname + '/../config/config.js')[env];
const db = {};

let sequelize;
if (config.use_env_variable) {
  sequelize = new Sequelize(process.env[config.use_env_variable], config);
} else {
  sequelize = new Sequelize(config.database, config.username, config.password, config);
}

fs
  .readdirSync(__dirname)
  .filter(file => {
    return (file.indexOf('.') !== 0) && (file !== basename) && (file.slice(-3) === '.js');
  })
  .forEach(file => {
    const model = require(path.join(__dirname, file))(sequelize, Sequelize.DataTypes);
    db[model.name] = model;
  });

Object.keys(db).forEach(modelName => {
  if (db[modelName].associate) {
    db[modelName].associate(db);
  }
});

db.sequelize = sequelize;
db.Sequelize = Sequelize;

// attach models
db.user = require("../models/user.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);
db.role = require("../models/role.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);
db.userRole = require("../models/userRole.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);
db.garden = require("../models/garden.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);
db.seed = require("../models/seed.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);
db.plant = require("../models/plant.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);
db.plantImage = require("../models/plantImage.js")(sequelize, Sequelize);

// list associations below
db.role.belongsToMany(db.user, {
  through: "userRole",
  foreignKey: "roleId",
  otherKey: "userId"
});
db.user.belongsToMany(db.role, {
  through: "userRole",
  foreignKey: "userId",
  otherKey: "roleId"
});

db.seed.belongsToMany(db.garden, {
  through: "plant",
  foreignKey: "seedId",
  otherKey: "gardenId"
});
db.garden.belongsToMany(db.seed, {
  through: "plant",
  as: "planted",
  foreignKey: "gardenId",
  otherKey: "seedId"
});

db.user.hasMany(db.garden, {
  foreignKey: 'userId'
});
db.garden.belongsTo(db.user, {
  foreignKey: "userId"
});

db.user.hasMany(db.seed, {
  foreignKey: "userId",
});
db.seed.belongsTo(db.user);
db.plantImage.belongsTo(db.plant);

module.exports = db;

my server.js file

const express = require("express");
const cors = require("cors");
const db = require("./models");

const app = express();
app.disable('x-powered-by');
var corsOptions = {
  origin: "*",
};

app.use(cors(corsOptions));

db.sequelize.sync()

app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.json({ message: "Welcome to Giancarlo's application." });
});

require('./routes/auth.routes')(app);
require('./routes/user.routes')(app);
require('./routes/role.routes')(app);
require("./routes/garden.routes")(app)
require("./routes/seed.routes")(app)
require("./routes/plant.routes")(app)
require("./routes/plantImage.routes")(app)

// set port, listen for requests
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8080;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running on port ${PORT}.`);
});

my package.json file:

{
  "name": "my-garden-express-api",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "dev": "nodemon server.js",
    "start": "node server.js",
    "db:reset": "npx sequelize-cli db:drop && npx sequelize-cli db:create && npx sequelize-cli db:migrate && npx sequelize-cli db:seed:all"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "bcrypt-nodejs": "^0.0.3",
    "body-parser": "^1.19.0",
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "passport": "^0.4.1",
    "passport-jwt": "^4.0.0",
    "pg": "^8.5.1",
    "sequelize": "^6.3.5",
    "dotenv": "^8.2.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "nodemon": "^2.0.7",
    "sequelize-cli": "^6.2.0"
  }
}

I can't figure out why it won't find the DATABASE_URL. I've looked at several stackoverflow questions and have made changes that I've seen but still getting the same error. Thanks in advance for the help!

Answer 1

The use_env_variable key should be set to the string 'DATABASE_URL' and not the variable DATABASE_URL.

{
  use_env_variable: 'DATABASE_URL',
  // ... 
}