diff --git a/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts b/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts
index e8ed0ee3fd8fb2..0ed51803d2e142 100644
--- a/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts
@@ -108,17 +108,22 @@ describe('Node Applications', () => {
       `apps/${nodeapp}/src/additional-main.ts`,
       `console.log('Hello Additional World!');`
     );
-    updateFile(`apps/${nodeapp}/src/main.ts`, `console.log('Hello World!');`);
+    updateFile(`apps/${nodeapp}/src/main.ts`, 
+    `console.log('Hello World!');
+    console.log('env: ' + process.env['NODE_ENV']);
+    `
+    );
     await runCLIAsync(`build ${nodeapp}`);
 
     checkFilesExist(
       `dist/apps/${nodeapp}/main.js`,
       `dist/apps/${nodeapp}/additional-main.js`
     );
-    const result = execSync(`node dist/apps/${nodeapp}/main.js`, {
+    const result = execSync(`NODE_ENV=development && node dist/apps/${nodeapp}/main.js`, {
       cwd: tmpProjPath(),
     }).toString();
     expect(result).toContain('Hello World!');
+    expect(result).toContain('env: development');
 
     const additionalResult = execSync(
       `node dist/apps/${nodeapp}/additional-main.js`,
diff --git a/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts b/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts
index 872d35b1a771b7..239b74828bd209 100644
--- a/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts
+++ b/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ export async function* esbuildExecutor(
   _options: EsBuildExecutorOptions,
   context: ExecutorContext
 ) {
-  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= context.configurationName;
+  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= context.configurationName ?? 'production';
 
   const options = normalizeOptions(_options, context);
   if (options.deleteOutputPath) removeSync(options.outputPath);
diff --git a/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts b/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts
index 5571eab8e47ab7..d22b07bfe86d1b 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ export async function* nodeExecutor(
   options: NodeExecutorOptions,
   context: ExecutorContext
 ) {
+  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= context?.configurationName ?? 'development';
   const project = context.projectGraph.nodes[context.projectName];
   const buildTarget = parseTargetString(
     options.buildTarget,