# How to set up environment variables in Django?

Django does not come with built-in support for **dot env**(`.env`) files. But we have an amazing Python package for that.


 - Let’s first **install** this package in our **Django** project’s virtual environment.

```bash
pip install python-dotenv
```

 - The next step is to **create** your `.env` files at the root level where your `manage.py` resides, and define your **environment** variables similar to the given example below.

```python
FOO="BAR"
```

 - Now just open your **Django** `settings.py` files and **import** the package at the top of it.

```python
import dotenv
```

 - It's time to **read/parse** the `.env` file that we have created above in our `settings.py` file. **Note**: *Keep in mind that this code needs to be put just after your `BASE_DIR` is defined.*

```python
import os
import dotenv

dotenv_file = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ".env")
if os.path.isfile(dotenv_file):
    dotenv.load_dotenv(dotenv_file)
```

 - That’s it, now you can simply read your environment variables using `os` library. An example would be like this inside your `settings.py` file:

```python
import os

FOO = os.getenv("FOO")
```

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