How to set the variables from .env file when using Django and Gitlab CI/CD?

Question

I'm trying to run the tests of my Django app in Gitlab CI/CD. The process fails every time with an error: django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: The SECRET_KEY setting must not be empty..

I assume this is because I have not my .env file available in the repository and that file contains for example the SECRET_KEY -variable which is then used in the settings.py like this: SECRET_KEY = os.getenv('SECRET_KEY').

So what would be the proper way to set these variables so my tests would pass?

Answer 1

One good way is to add the secret in CI variable. Then export it in target repo.

http://your/gilab/url/project/-/settings/ci_cd > Expand variables

Add a variable named SECRET_KEY, with the value, select type variable. Then in .gitlab-ci.yml, add following in concerned job.

 before_script:
    # to export variable to target environment
    - export SECRET_KEY=$SECRET_KEY  
    # to check if OK
    - env 

When set up the variable, you might select on which environment (dev, staging, prod) if you have many env.