diff --git a/src/commands/dev/exec.js b/src/commands/dev/exec.js
index cc33754a01f..80434a7cf64 100644
--- a/src/commands/dev/exec.js
+++ b/src/commands/dev/exec.js
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+const path = require('path')
 const execa = require('execa')
+const chalk = require('chalk')
 const Command = require('../../utils/command')
 const {
   // NETLIFYDEV,
@@ -6,6 +8,7 @@ const {
   // NETLIFYDEVWARN,
   NETLIFYDEVERR
 } = require('../../utils/logo')
+const { getEnvSettings } = require('../../utils/env')
 
 class ExecCommand extends Command {
   async run() {
@@ -20,6 +23,16 @@ class ExecCommand extends Command {
         `${NETLIFYDEVERR} No Site ID detected. You probably forgot to run \`netlify link\` or \`netlify init\`. `
       )
     }
+
+    const envSettings = await getEnvSettings(site.root)
+    if (envSettings.file) {
+      console.log(
+        `${NETLIFYDEVLOG} Overriding the following env variables with ${chalk.blue(path.relative(site.root, envSettings.file))} file:`,
+        chalk.yellow(Object.keys(envSettings.vars))
+      )
+      Object.entries(envSettings.vars).forEach(([key, val]) => (process.env[key] = val))
+    }
+
     execa(this.argv[0], this.argv.slice(1), {
       env: process.env,
       stdio: 'inherit'
@@ -37,7 +50,7 @@ ExecCommand.description = `Exec command
 Runs a command within the netlify dev environment, e.g. with env variables from any installed addons
 `
 
-ExecCommand.examples = ['$ netlify exec npm run bootstrap']
+ExecCommand.examples = ['$ netlify dev:exec npm run bootstrap']
 
 ExecCommand.strict = false
 ExecCommand.parse = false
diff --git a/src/commands/dev/index.js b/src/commands/dev/index.js
index e731ab8daab..ec0b2e9f808 100644
--- a/src/commands/dev/index.js
+++ b/src/commands/dev/index.js
@@ -22,16 +22,14 @@ const Command = require('../../utils/command')
 const chalk = require('chalk')
 const jwtDecode = require('jwt-decode')
 const open = require('open')
-const dotenv = require('dotenv')
 const { NETLIFYDEV, NETLIFYDEVLOG, NETLIFYDEVWARN, NETLIFYDEVERR } = require('../../utils/logo')
 const boxen = require('boxen')
 const { createTunnel, connectTunnel } = require('../../utils/live-tunnel')
 const { createRewriter } = require('../../utils/rules-proxy')
 const { onChanges } = require('../../utils/rules-proxy')
 const { parseHeadersFile, objectForPath } = require('../../utils/headers')
-const { getEnvFile } = require('../../utils/env')
+const { getEnvSettings } = require('../../utils/env')
 
-const readFile = util.promisify(fs.readFile)
 const stat = util.promisify(fs.stat)
 
 function isInternal(url) {
@@ -411,14 +409,13 @@ class DevCommand extends Command {
 
     process.env.NETLIFY_DEV = 'true'
     // Override env variables with .env file
-    const envFile = await getEnvFile(site.root)
-    if (envFile) {
-      const vars = dotenv.parse(await readFile(envFile)) || {}
+    const envSettings = await getEnvSettings(site.root)
+    if (envSettings.file) {
       console.log(
-        `${NETLIFYDEVLOG} Overriding the following env variables with ${chalk.blue(path.relative(site.root, envFile))} file:`,
-        chalk.yellow(Object.keys(vars))
+        `${NETLIFYDEVLOG} Overriding the following env variables with ${chalk.blue(path.relative(site.root, envSettings.file))} file:`,
+        chalk.yellow(Object.keys(envSettings.vars))
       )
-      Object.entries(vars).forEach(([key, val]) => (process.env[key] = val))
+      Object.entries(envSettings.vars).forEach(([key, val]) => (process.env[key] = val))
     }
 
     let settings = await serverSettings(devConfig, flags, site.root, this.log)
diff --git a/src/function-builder-detectors/netlify-lambda.js b/src/function-builder-detectors/netlify-lambda.js
index 066603ea6cd..f685a5944f3 100644
--- a/src/function-builder-detectors/netlify-lambda.js
+++ b/src/function-builder-detectors/netlify-lambda.js
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
-const { existsSync, readFileSync, readFile: readFileAsync } = require('fs')
-const util = require('util')
+const { existsSync, readFileSync } = require('fs')
 const execa = require('execa')
-const dotenv = require('dotenv')
-const { getEnvFile } = require('../utils/env')
-
-const readFile = util.promisify(readFileAsync)
+const { getEnvSettings } = require('../utils/env')
 
 module.exports = async function(projectDir) {
   if (!existsSync('package.json')) {
@@ -31,9 +27,9 @@ module.exports = async function(projectDir) {
   }
 
   let envConfig = {}
-  const envFile = await getEnvFile(projectDir)
-  if (envFile) {
-    envConfig = dotenv.parse(await readFile(envFile))
+  const envSettings = await getEnvSettings(projectDir)
+  if (envSettings.file) {
+    envConfig = envSettings.vars
   }
 
   if (settings.npmScript) {
diff --git a/src/utils/env.js b/src/utils/env.js
index e71ef1f34f7..4f543b034ac 100644
--- a/src/utils/env.js
+++ b/src/utils/env.js
@@ -1,25 +1,31 @@
 const path = require('path')
 const fs = require('fs')
 const { promisify } = require('util')
+const dotenv = require('dotenv')
 
 const fileStat = promisify(fs.stat)
+const readFile = promisify(fs.readFile)
 
-async function getEnvFile(projectDir) {
+async function getEnvSettings(projectDir) {
   const envDevelopmentFile = path.resolve(projectDir, '.env.development')
   const envFile = path.resolve(projectDir, '.env')
 
+  const settings = {}
+
   try {
-    if ((await fileStat(envDevelopmentFile)).isFile()) return envDevelopmentFile
+    if ((await fileStat(envFile)).isFile()) settings.file = envFile
   } catch (err) {
     // nothing
   }
   try {
-    if ((await fileStat(envFile)).isFile()) return envFile
+    if ((await fileStat(envDevelopmentFile)).isFile()) settings.file = envDevelopmentFile
   } catch (err) {
     // nothing
   }
 
-  return undefined
+  if (settings.file) settings.vars = dotenv.parse(await readFile(settings.file)) || {}
+
+  return settings
 }
 
-module.exports.getEnvFile = getEnvFile
+module.exports.getEnvSettings = getEnvSettings
diff --git a/src/utils/env.test.js b/src/utils/env.test.js
index 5ec6995defb..2e8dcf64fdb 100644
--- a/src/utils/env.test.js
+++ b/src/utils/env.test.js
@@ -1,22 +1,31 @@
 const test = require('ava')
 const path = require('path')
-const { getEnvFile } = require('./env')
+const { getEnvSettings } = require('./env')
 
 const contextSite = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'tests', 'context-site')
 const dummySite = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'tests', 'dummy-site')
 const craSite = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'tests', 'site-cra')
 
 test('no .env files', async t => {
-  const f = await getEnvFile(contextSite)
-  t.is(f, undefined)
+  const vars = await getEnvSettings(contextSite)
+  t.deepEqual(vars, {})
 })
 
 test('.env.development file', async t => {
-  const f = await getEnvFile(dummySite)
-  t.is(f, path.resolve(dummySite, '.env.development'))
+  const vars = await getEnvSettings(dummySite)
+  t.deepEqual(vars, {
+    file: path.resolve(dummySite, '.env.development'),
+    vars: {
+      EASY_VAR: 'true',
+      DUMMY_VAR: 'false',
+    },
+  })
 })
 
 test('.env file', async t => {
-  const f = await getEnvFile(craSite)
-  t.is(f, path.resolve(craSite, '.env'))
+  const vars = await getEnvSettings(craSite)
+  t.deepEqual(vars, {
+    file: path.resolve(craSite, '.env'),
+    vars: {},
+  })
 })
diff --git a/tests/dummy-site/.env b/tests/dummy-site/.env
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000