Help! Is my code not compiling because I don’t have a .env file?

Okay, so I'm new to coding, in case you couldn't tell. I've got my first coding job, and it feels like they are trying to make me work as an unpaid intern for a week before they decide whether or not to hire me. I'm asked to complete tasks outside of work hours, work on code outside of work hours, and only get paid for the 20 hours/week of coding I do, and I don't have anyone to go to to help me with any questions. So, I'm turning to you folks. <br><br>This morning, I've got a task to run a script that creates a database in our app for testing purposes. It’s a node script. When I run it, I get this error: const dbUser = process.env.DATABASE_POSTGRES_USER;<br><br>I don't have an env file set up. I'm using a Mac, so I'm not sure how to do that. Will I need an env file for every project I work on? When I work in a team, will that be a team env file? Any information about env files for a beginner would be super helpful, because I'm completely lost there. This is my first job since graduating college, so I'm really hoping they don't let me go because I'm asking questions, haha. <br><br>Sorry if this was unclear, I'm really new to coding. Any help is much appreciated!