Global objects and process

Node provides useful global APIs such as console, timers, process, and Buffer.

The process object

process exposes information about the running application, command-line arguments, environment variables, and exit behavior.

Environment variables are especially important when configuring applications differently for development, staging, and production.

Deep dive

Useful process properties

• process.env contains environment variables.
• process.argv contains command-line arguments.
• process.cwd() returns the current working directory.
• process.exitCode can define the process exit status.

Why this matters in production

Environment variables are commonly used to configure ports, database connections, logging levels, and external services without changing application source code.