Many resources can be unclear when explaining how to set up environment variables in Django with ‘.env’ files. Here’s a straightforward guide:
Download the Python Dotenv library:
Add or edit your ‘.env’ file:
Import it in your specific file(The file you want to include your ‘.env’ file values):
from django.core.exceptions import ImproperConfigError
from django.views import View
#Import load_dotenv module
from dotenv import load_dotenv
class KeyValueView(View):
def get(self, request):
“””
Gets a key value from the .env file.
Raises:
ImproperConfigError: If the ENV_KEY environment variable is not set.
“””
# Load the dotenv function
load_dotenv()
try:
# Your key is imported here like so…
key = os.environ.get(‘ENV_KEY‘)
if not key:
raise ImproperConfigError(“You must set the ENV_KEY environment variable.“)
value = os.getenv(key)
return render(request, ‘your_template.html‘, {‘key‘: key, ‘value‘: value})
except ImproperConfigError as e:
return HttpResponseBadRequest(str(e))
Note:
Don’t commit or deploy your ‘.env’ file – (that goes without saying) you will compromise the security of your site if you do.
Your ‘.env’ file should be in your root directory. i.e
