• Classes
  • 03 - Batch prediction
  • Part 2

.env File

A .env is a environment file, a plain text file commonly used in software development projects. It serves as a configuration file that stores environment variables.

Info!

Environment variables are key-value pairs that hold sensitive or environment-specific information, such as:

  • API keys
  • Access tokens
  • Database credentials
  • Other configuration settings.

The .env file plays a crucial role in separating sensitive or environment-specific data from the source code.

By storing such information in a separate file, developers can easily manage different configurations for various environments (e.g., development, staging, production) without modifying the codebase.

Tip! 1

Stop hardcoding configuration values in source code. Use .env instead!

This approach enhances security and simplifies the deployment process.

Never commit!

.env files must remain outside of version control systems (e.g., github, gitlab, bitbucket), preventing accidental exposure!

Dot Example!

It is recommended to create an .env.example file, this must be committed in the repository. It must contain all the environment variables necessary to start the application or model, but with dummy values.

This way, whoever is going to deploy the ML application, will know what to configure so that the application starts successfully!

A .env.example file: 

DB_HOST="1.2.3.4"
DB_PORT=1122
DB_USERNAME="some_username"
DB_PASSWORD=abc123
DB_DATABASE="some_db"
GITHUB_TOKEN_ACCESS="ghp_123412341234123412341234123412341234"

Reading .env

Install de lib:

$ pip install python-dotenv


So environment variables can be read in Python with:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Reading .env and creating environment variables
load_dotenv()

# Reading environment variable
host = os.getenv("DB_HOST")

# Using environment variable
print(host)