Env files are not environments: isolate with Azure CLI discipline
Six nearly identical .env.example files feel thorough. They guarantee drift. Someone updates three. Prod still reads the fourth. Agents and humans resolve different paths. The repo looks configured. The cloud is the actual environment, and nobody agrees which subscription is live.
Treat Azure CLI context (subscription, resource group, identity) as the isolation boundary. Keep a small set of live env files plus stage templates that document names, not secrets. POC and MVP can share product code while keeping separate deploy stages.
Figure 1. Cloud isolation is subscription, resource group, identity, and network posture. Env files only describe names. Source: Microsoft Learn: private endpoint overview.
Figure 2. POC and MVP can share product code while keeping separate deploy stages and Azure CLI contexts. Source: Microsoft Learn: App Service deploy best practices.