Environment Variables for Proxy Configuration: Best Practices

Proxy Credentials with Environment Variables

Never hardcode proxy credentials. Use environment variables instead.

TL;DR: Store proxy URLs in environment variables. Load them in your application. Use .env files for local development.

Setting Environment Variables

Linux/Mac

export HTTP_PROXY=http://user:pass@proxy:port
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://user:pass@proxy:port

Windows

set HTTP_PROXY=http://user:pass@proxy:port
set HTTPS_PROXY=http://user:pass@proxy:port

.env File

PROXY_HOST=proxy.outreachproxy.com
PROXY_PORT=8080
PROXY_USER=your_username
PROXY_PASS=your_password

Python Usage

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()
proxy_url = f"http://{os.getenv('PROXY_USER')}:{os.getenv('PROXY_PASS')}@{os.getenv('PROXY_HOST')}:{os.getenv('PROXY_PORT')}"

Best Practices

1. Never commit .env files 2. Use secrets management in production 3. Rotate credentials periodically 4. Limit credential scope