When something does not work on a colleague's machine suspect gitignored content

This is part of the Semicolon&Sons Code Diary - consisting of lessons learned on the job. You're in the workflows category.

Last Updated: 2024-03-28

For two hours, Y could not get the expo.Constants.manifest key to work on their machine. We tried everything. Ultimately this was due to me putting an env.sample.js file in the repo that was incorrect while simultaneously having the correct .env.js file on my machine (thus making it impossible for me to reproduce their errors).

I only realized the discrepancy when inspecting their .env.js file during a pair program debug session. Things would have went much faster if I immediately suspected the .env file as the source of likely issues.

Lesson

Suspect files that are in the gitignore (e.g. env files) when something fails on a colleague's machine but not your own.