diff --git a/client/components/Nav.jsx b/client/components/Nav.jsx
index 22305b3a..dd7c800e 100644
--- a/client/components/Nav.jsx
+++ b/client/components/Nav.jsx
@@ -10,14 +10,13 @@ import * as projectActions from '../modules/IDE/actions/project';
 import { setAllAccessibleOutput } from '../modules/IDE/actions/preferences';
 import { logoutUser } from '../modules/User/actions';
 
+import getConfig from '../utils/getConfig';
 import { metaKeyName, } from '../utils/metaKey';
 
 import CaretLeftIcon from '../images/left-arrow.svg';
 import TriangleIcon from '../images/down-filled-triangle.svg';
 import LogoIcon from '../images/p5js-logo-small.svg';
 
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
-
 class Nav extends React.PureComponent {
   constructor(props) {
     super(props);
@@ -272,7 +271,7 @@ class Nav extends React.PureComponent {
                 New
               </button>
             </li>
-            { __process.env.LOGIN_ENABLED && (!this.props.project.owner || this.isUserOwner()) &&
+            { getConfig('LOGIN_ENABLED') && (!this.props.project.owner || this.isUserOwner()) &&
             <li className="nav__dropdown-item">
               <button
                 onClick={this.handleSave}
@@ -324,7 +323,7 @@ class Nav extends React.PureComponent {
                 Open
               </Link>
             </li> }
-            {__process.env.UI_COLLECTIONS_ENABLED &&
+            {getConfig('UI_COLLECTIONS_ENABLED') &&
               this.props.user.authenticated &&
               this.props.project.id &&
               <li className="nav__dropdown-item">
@@ -337,7 +336,7 @@ class Nav extends React.PureComponent {
                   Add to Collection
                 </Link>
               </li>}
-            { __process.env.EXAMPLES_ENABLED &&
+            { getConfig('EXAMPLES_ENABLED') &&
             <li className="nav__dropdown-item">
               <Link
                 to="/p5/sketches"
@@ -587,7 +586,7 @@ class Nav extends React.PureComponent {
                 My sketches
               </Link>
             </li>
-            {__process.env.UI_COLLECTIONS_ENABLED &&
+            {getConfig('UI_COLLECTIONS_ENABLED') &&
               <li className="nav__dropdown-item">
                 <Link
                   to={`/${this.props.user.username}/collections`}
@@ -635,7 +634,7 @@ class Nav extends React.PureComponent {
   }
 
   renderUserMenu(navDropdownState) {
-    const isLoginEnabled = __process.env.LOGIN_ENABLED;
+    const isLoginEnabled = getConfig('LOGIN_ENABLED');
     const isAuthenticated = this.props.user.authenticated;
 
     if (isLoginEnabled && isAuthenticated) {
diff --git a/client/modules/App/App.jsx b/client/modules/App/App.jsx
index c9d9b3a1..af441a9d 100644
--- a/client/modules/App/App.jsx
+++ b/client/modules/App/App.jsx
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import React from 'react';
 import { connect } from 'react-redux';
+import getConfig from '../../utils/getConfig';
 import DevTools from './components/DevTools';
 import { setPreviousPath } from '../IDE/actions/ide';
 
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
-
 class App extends React.Component {
   constructor(props, context) {
     super(props, context);
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ class App extends React.Component {
   render() {
     return (
       <div className="app">
-        {this.state.isMounted && !window.devToolsExtension && __process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' && <DevTools />}
+        {this.state.isMounted && !window.devToolsExtension && getConfig('NODE_ENV') === 'development' && <DevTools />}
         {this.props.children}
       </div>
     );
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/actions/uploader.js b/client/modules/IDE/actions/uploader.js
index c7a0139f..c3518630 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/actions/uploader.js
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/actions/uploader.js
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import axios from 'axios';
+import getConfig from '../../../utils/getConfig';
 import { createFile } from './files';
 import { TEXT_FILE_REGEX } from '../../../../server/utils/fileUtils';
 
 const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
-const s3BucketHttps = __process.env.S3_BUCKET_URL_BASE ||
-                      `https://s3-${__process.env.AWS_REGION}.amazonaws.com/${__process.env.S3_BUCKET}/`;
+const s3BucketHttps = getConfig('S3_BUCKET_URL_BASE') ||
+                      `https://s3-${getConfig('AWS_REGION')}.amazonaws.com/${getConfig('S3_BUCKET')}/`;
 const ROOT_URL = __process.env.API_URL;
 const MAX_LOCAL_FILE_SIZE = 80000; // bytes, aka 80 KB
 
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/components/AssetSize.jsx b/client/modules/IDE/components/AssetSize.jsx
index 2e4c1282..cf2356e2 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/components/AssetSize.jsx
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/components/AssetSize.jsx
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ import React from 'react';
 import { connect } from 'react-redux';
 import prettyBytes from 'pretty-bytes';
 
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
-const limit = __process.env.UPLOAD_LIMIT || 250000000;
+import getConfig from '../../../utils/getConfig';
+
+const limit = getConfig('UPLOAD_LIMIT') || 250000000;
 const MAX_SIZE_B = limit;
 
 const formatPercent = (percent) => {
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/components/FileUploader.jsx b/client/modules/IDE/components/FileUploader.jsx
index c9515f5c..e2e6e509 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/components/FileUploader.jsx
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/components/FileUploader.jsx
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@ import Dropzone from 'dropzone';
 import { bindActionCreators } from 'redux';
 import { connect } from 'react-redux';
 import * as UploaderActions from '../actions/uploader';
+import getConfig from '../../../utils/getConfig';
 import { fileExtensionsAndMimeTypes } from '../../../../server/utils/fileUtils';
 
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
-const s3Bucket = __process.env.S3_BUCKET_URL_BASE ||
-                 `https://s3-${__process.env.AWS_REGION}.amazonaws.com/${__process.env.S3_BUCKET}/`;
+const s3Bucket = getConfig('S3_BUCKET_URL_BASE') ||
+                 `https://s3-${getConfig('AWS_REGION')}.amazonaws.com/${getConfig('S3_BUCKET')}/`;
 
 class FileUploader extends React.Component {
   componentDidMount() {
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/components/UploadFileModal.jsx b/client/modules/IDE/components/UploadFileModal.jsx
index 27fa7c6f..ff7e9c2d 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/components/UploadFileModal.jsx
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/components/UploadFileModal.jsx
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@ import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import { connect } from 'react-redux';
 import { Link } from 'react-router';
 import prettyBytes from 'pretty-bytes';
+import getConfig from '../../../utils/getConfig';
 import FileUploader from './FileUploader';
 import { getreachedTotalSizeLimit } from '../selectors/users';
 import ExitIcon from '../../../images/exit.svg';
 
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
-const limit = __process.env.UPLOAD_LIMIT || 250000000;
+const limit = getConfig('UPLOAD_LIMIT') || 250000000;
 const limitText = prettyBytes(limit);
 
 class UploadFileModal extends React.Component {
diff --git a/client/modules/IDE/selectors/users.js b/client/modules/IDE/selectors/users.js
index 556d99dd..eabf2e5c 100644
--- a/client/modules/IDE/selectors/users.js
+++ b/client/modules/IDE/selectors/users.js
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import { createSelector } from 'reselect';
+import getConfig from '../../../utils/getConfig';
 
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
 const getAuthenticated = state => state.user.authenticated;
 const getTotalSize = state => state.user.totalSize;
 const getAssetsTotalSize = state => state.assets.totalSize;
-const limit = __process.env.UPLOAD_LIMIT || 250000000;
+const limit = getConfig('UPLOAD_LIMIT') || 250000000;
 
 export const getCanUploadMedia = createSelector(
   getAuthenticated,
diff --git a/client/store.js b/client/store.js
index dbb3685e..a8d2114e 100644
--- a/client/store.js
+++ b/client/store.js
@@ -3,15 +3,14 @@ import thunk from 'redux-thunk';
 import DevTools from './modules/App/components/DevTools';
 import rootReducer from './reducers';
 import { clearState, loadState } from './persistState';
-
-const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
+import getConfig from './utils/getConfig';
 
 export default function configureStore(initialState) {
   const enhancers = [
     applyMiddleware(thunk),
   ];
 
-  if (__process.env.CLIENT && __process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
+  if (getConfig('CLIENT') && getConfig('NODE_ENV') === 'development') {
     // Enable DevTools only when rendering on client and during development.
     enhancers.push(window.devToolsExtension ? window.devToolsExtension() : DevTools.instrument());
   }
diff --git a/client/utils/getConfig.js b/client/utils/getConfig.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3d8331a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/utils/getConfig.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/**
+ * Returns config item from environment
+ */
+export default function getConfig(key) {
+  if (key == null) {
+    throw new Error('"key" must be provided to getConfig()');
+  }
+
+  const __process = (typeof global !== 'undefined' ? global : window).process;
+  const value = __process.env[key];
+
+  if (value == null) {
+    console.warn(`getConfig("${key}") returned null`);
+  }
+
+  return value;
+}
diff --git a/client/utils/getConfig.test.js b/client/utils/getConfig.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..05659cae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/utils/getConfig.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import getConfig from './getConfig';
+
+describe('utils/getConfig()', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    delete global.process.env.CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME;
+    delete window.process.env.CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME;
+  });
+
+  it('throws if key is not defined', () => {
+    expect(() => getConfig(/* key is missing */)).toThrow(/must be provided/);
+  });
+
+  it('fetches from global.process', () => {
+    global.process.env.CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME = 'editor.p5js.org';
+
+    expect(getConfig('CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME')).toBe('editor.p5js.org');
+  });
+
+  it('fetches from window.process', () => {
+    window.process.env.CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME = 'editor.p5js.org';
+
+    expect(getConfig('CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME')).toBe('editor.p5js.org');
+  });
+
+  it('warns but does not throw if no value found', () => {
+    expect(() => getConfig('CONFIG_TEST_KEY_NAME')).not.toThrow();
+  });
+});