Environment variables ¶
The first steps of the Getting Started guide mention creating an .env file.
The sections below outline in more detail the application environment variables that you may want to override, and their purpose. In Azure App Services, this is more generally called the “configuration”.
See other topic pages in this section for more specific environment variable configurations.
Multiline environment variables
Although Docker, bash, etc. support multiline values directly in e.g. an .env file:
multi_line_value='first line
second line
third line'
The VS Code Python extension does not parse multiline values: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/environments#_environment-variables
When specifying multiline values for local usage, use the literal newline character \n but maintain the single quote wrapper:
multi_line_value='first line\nsecond line\third line'
A quick bash script to convert direct multiline values to their literal newline character equivalent is:
echo "${multi_line_value//$'\n'/\\n}"
Amplitude ¶
Amplitude API docs
Read more at https://developers.amplitude.com/docs/http-api-v2#request-format
ANALYTICS_KEY ¶
Deployment configuration
You may change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
Amplitude API key for the project where the app will direct events.
If blank or an invalid key, analytics events aren’t captured (though may still be logged).
Django ¶
DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS ¶
Deployment configuration
You must change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
Django docs
A list of strings representing the host/domain names that this Django site can serve.
DJANGO_DB_DIR ¶
Deployment configuration
You may change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
The directory where Django creates its Sqlite database file. Must exist and be writable by the Django process.
By default, the base project directory (i.e. the root of the repository).
DJANGO_DB_FILE ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
The name of the Django database file to use locally (during both normal app startup and for resetting the database).
By default, django.db.
DJANGO_DB_FIXTURES ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
A path, relative to the repository root, of Django data fixtures to load when resetting the database.
The file must end in fixtures.json for the script to process it correctly.
By default, benefits/core/migrations/local_fixtures.json.
DJANGO_DB_RESET ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
Boolean:
True(default): deletes the existing database file and runs fresh Django migrations.False: Django uses the existing database file.
DJANGO_DEBUG ¶
Deployment configuration
Do not enable this in production
Django docs
Boolean:
True: the application is launched with debug mode turned on, allows pausing on breakpoints in the code, changes how static files are servedFalse(default): the application is launched with debug mode turned off, similar to how it runs in production
DJANGO_LOCAL_PORT ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
The port used to serve the Django application from the host machine (that is running the application container).
i.e. if you are running the app in Docker on your local machine, this is the port that the app will be accessible from at http://localhost:$DJANGO_LOCAL_PORT
From inside the container, the app is always listening on port 8000.
DJANGO_LOG_LEVEL ¶
Deployment configuration
You may change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
Django docs
The log level used in the application’s logging configuration.
By default the application sends logs to stdout.
DJANGO_SECRET_KEY ¶
Deployment configuration
You must change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
Django docs
Django’s primary secret, keep this safe!
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
The email address of the Django Admin superuser created when resetting the database.
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
The password of the Django Admin superuser created when resetting the database.
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME ¶
Local configuration
This setting only affects the app running on localhost
The username of the Django Admin superuser created when resetting the database.
DJANGO_TRUSTED_ORIGINS ¶
Deployment configuration
You must change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
Django docs
Comma-separated list of hosts which are trusted origins for unsafe requests (e.g. POST)
HEALTHCHECK_USER_AGENTS ¶
Deployment configuration
You must change this setting when deploying the app to a non-localhost domain
Comma-separated list of User-Agent strings which, when present as an HTTP header, should only receive healthcheck responses. Used by our HealthcheckUserAgents middleware.
requests configuration ¶
requests docs
REQUESTS_CONNECT_TIMEOUT ¶
The number of seconds requests will wait for the client to establish a connection to a remote machine. Defaults to 3 seconds.
REQUESTS_READ_TIMEOUT ¶
The number of seconds the client will wait for the server to send a response. Defaults to 1 second.
Cypress tests ¶
Cypress docs
CYPRESS_baseUrl ¶
The base URL for the (running) application, against which all Cypress .visit() etc. commands are run.
When Cypress is running inside the devcontainer, this should be http://localhost:8000. When Cypress is running outside the
devcontainer, check the DJANGO_LOCAL_PORT.
Sentry ¶
SENTRY_DSN ¶
Sentry docs
Enables sending events to Sentry.
SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT ¶
Sentry docs
Segments errors by which deployment they occur in. This defaults to dev, and can be set to match one of the environment names.
local may also be used for local testing of the Sentry integration.
SENTRY_REPORT_URI ¶
Sentry docs
Collect information on Content-Security-Policy (CSP) violations. Read more about CSP configuration in Benefits.
To enable report collection, set this env var to the authenticated Sentry endpoint.
SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE ¶
Sentry docs
Control the volume of transactions sent to Sentry. Value must be a float in the range [0.0, 1.0].
The default is 0.0 (i.e. no transactions are tracked).