DEV Community

Mrhili Mohamed Amine
Mrhili Mohamed Amine

Posted on

3 4

Python .env

If your application takes its configuration from environment variables, like a 12-factor application, launching it in development is not very practical because you have to set those environment variables yourself.

pip install python-dotenv
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

To help you with that, you can add Python-dotenv to your application to make it load the configuration from a .env file when it is present (e.g. in development) while remaining configurable via the environment:

from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()  # take environment variables from .env.
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Code of your application, which uses environment variables (e.g. from os.environ or
os.getenv) as if they came from the actual environment.
By default, load_dotenv doesn't override existing environment variables.

To configure the development environment, add a .env in the root directory of your project:

.
├── .env
└── foo.py

The syntax of .env files supported by python-dotenv is similar to that of Bash:

# Development settings
DOMAIN=example.org
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@${DOMAIN}
ROOT_URL=${DOMAIN}/app
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

If you use variables in values, ensure they are surrounded with { and }, like ${DOMAIN}, as bare variables such as $DOMAIN are not expanded.

You will probably want to add .env to your .gitignore, especially if it contains secrets like a password.

Postmark Image

Speedy emails, satisfied customers

Are delayed transactional emails costing you user satisfaction? Postmark delivers your emails almost instantly, keeping your customers happy and connected.

Sign up

Top comments (0)

A Workflow Copilot. Tailored to You.

Pieces.app image

Our desktop app, with its intelligent copilot, streamlines coding by generating snippets, extracting code from screenshots, and accelerating problem-solving.

Read the docs

👋 Kindness is contagious

Please leave a ❤️ or a friendly comment on this post if you found it helpful!

Okay