Environment Variables¶

Overview¶

Swarms uses environment variables for configuration management and secure credential storage. This approach keeps sensitive information like API keys out of your code and allows for easy configuration changes across different environments.

Core Environment Variables¶

Framework Configuration¶

Configuration Variables

Variable	Description	Example
`SWARMS_VERBOSE_GLOBAL`	Controls global logging verbosity	`True` or `False`
`WORKSPACE_DIR`	Defines the workspace directory for agent operations	`agent_workspace`

LLM Provider API Keys¶

OpenAIAnthropicGroqGoogleHugging FacePerplexity AIAI21CohereMistral AITogether AI

OPENAI_API_KEY="your-openai-key"

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-anthropic-key"

GROQ_API_KEY="your-groq-key"

GEMINI_API_KEY="your-gemini-key"

HUGGINGFACE_TOKEN="your-huggingface-token"

PPLX_API_KEY="your-perplexity-key"

AI21_API_KEY="your-ai21-key"

COHERE_API_KEY="your-cohere-key"

MISTRAL_API_KEY="your-mistral-key"

TOGETHER_API_KEY="your-together-key"

Tool Provider Keys¶

Search ToolsAnalytics & MonitoringBrowser Automation

BING_BROWSER_API="your-bing-key"
BRAVESEARCH_API_KEY="your-brave-key"
TAVILY_API_KEY="your-tavily-key"
YOU_API_KEY="your-you-key"

EXA_API_KEY="your-exa-key"

MULTION_API_KEY="your-multion-key"

Security Best Practices¶

Environment File Management¶

Create a .env file in your project root
Never commit .env files to version control
Add .env to your .gitignore:
```
echo ".env" >> .gitignore
```

API Key Security¶

Important Security Considerations

Rotate API keys regularly
Use different API keys for development and production
Never hardcode API keys in your code
Limit API key permissions to only what's necessary
Monitor API key usage for unusual patterns

Template Configuration¶

Create a .env.example template without actual values:

# Required Configuration
OPENAI_API_KEY=""
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""
GROQ_API_KEY=""
WORKSPACE_DIR="agent_workspace"

# Optional Configuration
SWARMS_VERBOSE_GLOBAL="False"

Loading Environment Variables¶

from dotenv import load_dotenv
import os

# Load environment variables
load_dotenv()

# Access variables
workspace_dir = os.getenv("WORKSPACE_DIR")
openai_key = os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")

Environment Setup Guide¶

1. Install Dependencies2. Create Environment File3. Configure Variables4. Verify Setup

pip install python-dotenv

cp .env.example .env

Open .env in your text editor
Add your API keys and configuration
Save the file

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()
assert os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY") is not None, "OpenAI API key not found"

Environment-Specific Configuration¶

DevelopmentProductionTesting

WORKSPACE_DIR="agent_workspace"
SWARMS_VERBOSE_GLOBAL="True"

WORKSPACE_DIR="/var/swarms/workspace"
SWARMS_VERBOSE_GLOBAL="False"

WORKSPACE_DIR="test_workspace"
SWARMS_VERBOSE_GLOBAL="True"

Troubleshooting¶

Common Issues¶

Environment Variables Not Loading

Verify .env file exists in project root
Confirm load_dotenv() is called before accessing variables
Check file permissions

API Key Issues

Verify key format is correct
Ensure key has not expired
Check for leading/trailing whitespace

Workspace Directory Problems

Confirm directory exists
Verify write permissions
Check path is absolute when required