I am running a python script from a python library which loads some environment variables from a .env file in the root of the library using dotenv.
This works from the command line, but when I try to run as a cronjob using the following:
* * * * * source ./path_to_venv/activate; python ./path_to_script.py
I get a key error because it can't find the environment variable.
Any ideas why this isn't working?
Many thanks for any help!
I'm using crontab as well to execute my Node JS project. I have to explicitly state the path of my .env file like so:
require('dotenv').config({ path: '/var/www/html/myproject/.env' });
In python-dotenv, I believe it can be done similarly by using:
# OR, explicitly providing path to '.env'
from pathlib import Path # Python 3.6+ only
env_path = Path('.') / '.env'
load_dotenv(dotenv_path=env_path)
I don't know if there's a more elegant solution with this one. I was able to make my script work in crontab by adding the environment variables at the top of the cronjob.
API_KEY=value
API_KEY_SECRET=value
ACCESS_TOKEN=value=value
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=value
# run on 8hrs interval
0 */8 * * * . $HOME/Coding/python/web-scraper-corona/venv/bin/activate && $HOME/Coding/python/web-scraper-corona/venv/bin/python3 /home/chan-dev/Coding/python/web-scraper-corona/twitter-covid19-bot.py >> /tmp/test.txt 2>&1
If you're using dotenvs default config path, it is resolved from path.resolve(process.cwd(), '.env'), which when running your script from cron, will not resolve to what you expect.
So, use this example if your .env file is in the same level as your script:
const dotenv = require('dotenv')
dotenv.config({ path: __dirname + '/.env' })
Node.js ES6-way without any external modules:
// env.js
import dotenv from 'dotenv'
const _dirname = new URL('.', import.meta.url).pathname
dotenv.config({ path: _dirname + '.env' })
// yourmodule.js
import _ from './env.js'
// use process.env