add changelog entry for .env support

Author: petebacondarwin

src/content/changelog/workers/2025-08-01-dot-env-in-local-dev.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+---
+title: Wrangler and the Cloudflare Vite plugin support `.env` files in local development
+description: Use `.env` files to provide secrets and override environment variables on the `env` object during local development.
+products:
+  - workers
+date: 2025-08-01T01:00:00Z
+---
+
+Now, as an alternative to `.dev.vars`, you can use `.env` files to provide secrets and override environment variables on the `env` object during local development with Wrangler and the Cloudflare Vite plugin.
+
+Previously in local development, if you wanted to provide secrets or environment variables during local development, you had to use `.dev.vars` files.
+This is still supported, but you can now also use `.env` files, which are more familiar to many developers.
+
+## Using `.env` files in local development
+
+You can create a `.env` file in your project root to define environment variables that will be used when running `wrangler dev` or `vite dev`. The `.env` file should be formatted like a `dotenv` file, such as `KEY="VALUE"`:
+
+```bash title=".env"
+TITLE="My Worker"
+API_TOKEN="dev-token"
+```
+
+When you run `wrangler dev` or `vite dev`, the environment variables defined in the `.env` file will be available in your Worker code via the `env` object:
+
+```javascript
+export default {
+	async fetch(request, env) {
+		const title = env.TITLE; // "My Worker"
+		const apiToken = env.API_TOKEN; // "dev-token"
+		const response = await fetch(
+			`https://api.example.com/data?token=${apiToken}`,
+		);
+		return new Response(`Title: ${title} - ` + (await response.text()));
+	},
+};
+```
+
+## Multiple environments with `.env` files
+
+To set different environment variables for each environment, create files named `.env.<environment-name>`.
+
+When you use `wrangler <command> --env <environment-name>` or `CLOUDFLARE_ENV=<environment-name> vite dev`, the corresponding environment-specific file will also be loaded and merged with the `.env` file.
+
+For example, if you want to set different environment variables for the `staging` environment, you can create a file named `.env.staging`:
+
+```bash title=".env.staging"
+API_TOKEN="staging-token"
+```
+
+When you run `wrangler dev --env staging` or `CLOUDFLARE_ENV=staging vite dev`, the environment variables from `.env.staging` will be merged onto those from `.env`.
+
+```javascript
+export default {
+	async fetch(request, env) {
+		const title = env.TITLE; // "My Worker" (from `.env`)
+		const apiToken = env.API_TOKEN; // "staging-token" (from `.env.staging`, overriding the value from `.env`)
+		const response = await fetch(
+			`https://api.example.com/data?token=${apiToken}`,
+		);
+		return new Response(`Title: ${title} - ` + (await response.text()));
+	},
+};
+```
+
+## Find out more
+
+For more information on how to use `.env` files with Wrangler and the Cloudflare Vite plugin, see the following documentation:
+
+- [Environment variables and secrets](https://pbd-wrangler-dotenv.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/workers/development-testing/environment-variables/)
+- [Wrangler Documentation](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler)
+- [Cloudflare Vite Plugin Documentation](https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler/vite)