Python: Handling environment variables

This documentation is part of the Creating a REST API guide. You can view the complete guide here: How to create a REST API using Flask.

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Environment variables are vital for protecting sensitive information, such as database credentials or API keys. There are two main benefits to using environment variables:

1. Your secrets are not stored in your Git repository, ensuring unauthorised individuals cannot access your sensitive data even if they gain access to your source code.
2. You can use different credentials for different environments (for example, production versus development).

To manage environment variables, we use the python-dotenv module. First, install it if you haven't already:

pip install python-dotenv
pip freeze > requirements.txt

Next, create a .env file at the root of your project and add your development environment variables. For example:

ENV="development"
DATABASE_PASSWORD="secretPassword"
THIRD_API_PRIVATE_KEY="secretKey"

Finally, add the .env file to your .gitignore to maintain security:

echo ".env" >> .gitignore

To access these environment variables in Python, simply use os.environ.get():

import os

print(os.environ.get('ENV'))

The .env file is used only for the development environment. For staging or production, set the environment variables on the Stackhero dashboard in your Python service configuration.