Like a good friend, SvelteKit keeps your secrets. When writing your backend and frontend in the same repository, it can be easy to accidentally import sensitive data into your front-end code (environment variables containing API keys, for example). SvelteKit provides a way to prevent this entirely: server-only modules.

## Private environment variables

The [`$app/env/private`](environment-variables) module can only be imported into modules that only run on the server, such as [`hooks.server.js`](hooks) or [`+page.server.js`](routing#page-page.server.js).

## Server-only utilities

The [`$app/server`]($app-server) module, which contains a [`read`]($app-server#read) function for reading assets from the filesystem, can likewise only be imported by code that runs on the server.

## Your modules

You can make a module server-only in two ways:

- Add a `server` segment to the filename, e.g. `server.js` or `secrets.server.ts`. This works for any file in the project directory.
- Place it in a `server` directory anywhere in your project except inside `src/routes` or the `static` directory, e.g `src/lib/server/config.js` or `src/lib/data/server/user/profile.js`.

> [!LEGACY]
>  In SvelteKit 2, `server` directories were only recognised in the `src/lib` folder.

> [!NOTE] Modules outside your working directory and those inside `node_modules` (e.g. packages from npm) are _not_ subject to these rules. If you want to publish a package with a server-only module, add `import '$app/server'` to the top of that file.

## How it works

Any time you have public-facing code that imports server-only code (whether directly or indirectly)...

```js
// @errors: 7005
/// file: #lib/server/secrets.js
export const atlantisCoordinates = [/* redacted */];
```

```js
// @errors: 2307 7006 7005
/// file: src/routes/utils.js
export { atlantisCoordinates } from '#lib/server/secrets.js';

export const add = (a, b) => a + b;
```

```html
/// file: src/routes/+page.svelte
<script>
	import { add } from './utils.js';
</script>
```

...SvelteKit will error:

```
Cannot import #lib/server/secrets.ts into code that runs in the browser, as this could leak sensitive information.

 src/routes/+page.svelte imports
  src/routes/utils.js imports
   #lib/server/secrets.ts

If you're only using the import as a type, change it to `import type`.
```

Even though the public-facing code — `src/routes/+page.svelte` — only uses the `add` export and not the secret `atlantisCoordinates` export, the secret code could end up in JavaScript that the browser downloads, and so the import chain is considered unsafe.

This feature also works with dynamic imports, even interpolated ones like ``await import(`./${foo}.js`)``.

> [!NOTE] Unit testing frameworks like Vitest do not distinguish between server-only and public-facing code. For this reason, illegal import detection is disabled when running tests, as determined by `process.env.TEST === 'true'`.

## Further reading

- [Tutorial: Environment variables](/tutorial/kit/env-static-private)