GitHub action couldn't find environment variable for Django

Question

I was trying to use the environment variable in my Django application where I use the django-environ package with the .env file in my local machine. But I can’t use the .env file in my GitHub action. I’ve configured action secret variables manually from my project settings.
Here is my local machine code:

import environ

env = environ.Env()
environ.Env.read_env()

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
        'NAME': env('POSTGRES_DB_NAME'),
        'USER': env('POSTGRES_USER'),
        'PASSWORD': env('POSTGRES_PASSWORD'),
        'HOST': env('POSTGRES_HOST'),
        'PORT': env('POSTGRES_PORT'),
    }
}

This code is working in my local environment but failed to load in GitHub actions. I have configured the same variables in GitHub actions too, but still, the application couldn’t find the environment variable there in the GitHub action.

django.yml

name: Django CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      max-parallel: 4
      matrix:
        python-version: [3.7, 3.8, 3.9]

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
      uses: actions/setup-python@v3
      with:
        python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
    - name: Install Dependencies
      run: |
        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
        pip install -r requirements.txt
    - name: Run Tests
      run: |
        python manage.py test

The GitHub Action displays the following errors:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/environ/environ.py", line 403, in get_value
    value = self.ENVIRON[var_name]
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/os.py", line 681, in __getitem__
    raise KeyError(key) from None
KeyError: 'POSTGRES_DB_NAME'

The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "manage.py", line 22, in <module>
    main()
  File "manage.py", line 18, in main
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 419, in execute_from_command_line
    utility.execute()
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 413, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/test.py", line 23, in run_from_argv
    super().run_from_argv(argv)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 346, in run_from_argv
    parser = self.create_parser(argv[0], argv[1])
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 320, in create_parser
    self.add_arguments(parser)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/test.py", line 44, in add_arguments
    test_runner_class = get_runner(settings, self.test_runner)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/test/utils.py", line 317, in get_runner
    test_runner_class = test_runner_class or settings.TEST_RUNNER
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 82, in __getattr__
    self._setup(name)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 69, in _setup
    self._wrapped = Settings(settings_module)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/conf/__init__.py", line 170, in __init__
    mod = importlib.import_module(self.SETTINGS_MODULE)
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 728, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/home/runner/work/lha-backend/lha-backend/root/settings.py", line 87, in <module>
    'NAME': env('POSTGRES_DB_NAME'),
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/environ/environ.py", line 201, in __call__
    parse_default=parse_default
  File "/opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.7.13/x64/lib/python3.7/site-packages/environ/environ.py", line 407, in get_value
    raise ImproperlyConfigured(error_msg) from exc
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Set the POSTGRES_DB_NAME environment variable

Asked By: Maruf Khan

||

Source

Answer 1

You need to configure env for your run step, something like this:

    - name: Run Tests
      run: |
        python manage.py test
      env:
        POSTGRES_DB_NAME: ${{ secrets.POSTGRES_DB_NAME }}
        POSTGRES_USER: ${{ secrets.POSTGRES_USER }}
        POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.POSTGRES_PASSWORD }}
        POSTGRES_HOST: ${{ secrets.POSTGRES_HOST }}
        POSTGRES_PORT: ${{ secrets.POSTGRES_PORT }}

Relevant docs: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides/encrypted-secrets#using-encrypted-secrets-in-a-workflow

Additional advice

Use the same name for both GitHub secret and Environment Variable
Create an organization on GitHub if you want to use the same secrets across multiple repositories

Answered By: Mandera

GitHub action couldn't find environment variable for Django

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