angular cli change default environment when running ng serve

I had the same issue as you, and couldn't find a way to override the default environment variable used when no env arg is passed, but found a workaround that worked for me:

Simply change the file path that is standing for the dev environment in the angular cli configuration file (angular-cli.json):

// ... "environments": { "dev": "environments/environment.local.ts", "prod": "environments/environment.prod.ts" }, // ... 

dev is the default environment variable used by Angular CLI if no args are passed, so the local file would be the used one.

For Angular 6+ follow these instructions:

First you will define your environments in your angular.json, create those files, and then you will run via "ng serve --configuration dev"

This document covers the details of the above:

https://theinfogrid.com/tech/developers/angular/environment-variables-angular/

Additionally you will need to define the same in the "serve" section of the JSON...i.e:

"serve": { [...] "configurations": { "production": { "browserTarget": "myApp:build:production" }, "debug": { "browserTarget": "myApp:build:debug" } } 

It may be issue with the @angular/cli version, please remove/uninstall the current version of your @angular/cli by using the following command.

"npm remove @angular/cli" --save-dev 

and then install the latest version like :

"npm install @angular/[email protected]" --save-dev 

I hope default environment issue will be solve.

"options": { "browserTarget": "rcyc-admin:build:uat" },

"production": { "browserTarget": "rcyc-admin:build:production" }, "uat": { "browserTarget": "rcyc-admin:build:uat" },

and call using

 ng serve -c uat 

in angular-cli.json

Not recommended This is a simple server for use in testing or debugging Angular applications locally

Try using the --environment option through the CLI:

ng serve --environment prod will use the environment.prod.ts file.

You can also configure your environments in .angular-cli.json file.

Hope this helps!