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How to configure and extend the .env File?

Author: Muhammed Emre Bayraktaroglu

In this guide, we will focus on the essential environment variables the back-end of the HungerMap application requires and how to extend the .env file to include additional variables for local development.

Essential Environment Variables​

Ensure you have the following environment variables set in your .env file:

MONGODB_DB=db_NAME
MONGODB_COLLECTION=chatbot_data
MONGODB_DB_EMAIL_SERVICE=db_EMAIL_SERVICE
MONGODB_DB_PROMPT_COMPRESSOR_CACHE=db_PROMPT_COMPRESSOR_CACHE
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key

Explanation of Variables​

  • MONGODB_DB: The name of the MongoDB database.
  • MONGODB_COLLECTION: The name of the MongoDB collection for the chatbot data.
  • MONGODB_DB_EMAIL_SERVICE: The name of the MongoDB collection for the email service.
  • MONGODB_DB_PROMPT_COMPRESSOR_CACHE: The name of the MongoDB collection for the prompt compressor cache.
  • OPENAI_API_KEY: Your OpenAI API key for accessing the OpenAI services.

Adding Additional Variables and Extending the .env File​

To extend the .env file for local development, you can add additional variables as needed, such as API endpoints, local database URIs, or any other configurations specific to your development environment.

For example:

# Additional variables for local development
# Local MongoDB URI
MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017
# Local OpenAI API key (if different from the production key)
OPENAI_API_KEY_LOCAL=your_local_openai_api_key
# Any other custom variables
CUSTOM_VAR=custom_value

By organizing your environment variables in the .env file, you can easily manage and switch between different configurations for development, testing, and production environments.

Example: Using the .env Variables in Python​

Here's an example of how you can use these environment variables in a Python script:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load environment variables from .env file
load_dotenv()

# Accessing environment variables
mongodb_db = os.getenv('MONGODB_DB')
mongodb_collection = os.getenv('MONGODB_COLLECTION')
...