Laravel 10 - API Key in .env file is not recognized

CarolKar
August 10, 2023
237 views
1 vote
2 Answers

I am using Laravel Framework 10.15.0.

I am trying to load my API-Keys the following way:

        $apiKeyOpenAI = env('OPENAI_API_KEY');
        $client = OpenAI::client($apiKeyOpenAI);

In my .env file the api key is clearly defined:

OPENAI_API_KEY=xx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

However, when executing my application on the server I get that the $apiKeyOpenAI is null.

Still my .env file has the OPENAI_API_KEY in it. I checked this!

I tried to clear my cache php artisan config:clear , I still get the error:


   TypeError 

  OpenAI::client(): Argument #1 ($apiKey) must be of type string, null given, called in /var/www/demo-website/app/Console/Commands/AdminCommand.php on line 151

  at vendor/openai-php/client/src/OpenAI.php:13
      9▕ {
     10▕     /**
     11▕      * Creates a new Open AI Client with the given API token.
     12▕      */
  ➜  13▕     public static function client(string $apiKey, string $organization = null): Client
     14▕     {
     15▕         return self::factory()
     16▕             ->withApiKey($apiKey)
     17▕             ->withOrganization($organization)

  1   app/Console/Commands/AdminCommand.php:151
      OpenAI::client()

  2   app/Console/Commands/AdminCommand.php:39
      AppConsoleCommandsAdminCommand::generateContentUsingOpenAI()

Any suggesitons what I am doing wrong?

I appreciate your replies!

UPDATE

After deploying to the server I need to run this script so that it seems to work:

Route::get('/clear', function() {
    Artisan::call('cache:clear');
    Artisan::call('config:clear');

    return "Cache, Config is cleared";
})->middleware(['auth', 'admin']);

When deploying this script is also automatically run:

#!/bin/sh
set -e

echo "Deploying application ..."

# Enter maintenance mode
(php artisan down) || true
    # Update codebase
    git fetch origin deploy
    git reset --hard origin/deploy

    # Install dependencies based on lock file
    composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader

    # Migrate database
    php artisan migrate --force

    # Note: If you're using queue workers, this is the place to restart them.
    # ...


    # Clear cache
    # php artisan optimize

    php artisan config:cache
    php artisan route:clear
    php artisan route:cache
    php artisan view:clear
    php artisan view:cache
    php artisan auth:clear-resets
    php artisan cache:clear
    php artisan config:clear

    # Generate sitemap
    # php artisan sitemap:generate

    # Reload PHP to update opcache
    echo "" | sudo -S service php8.1-fpm reload
# Exit maintenance mode
php artisan up

echo "Application deployed!"

Answers

- TimLewis
- August 9, 2023 at 9:23 pm
- 0 votes
0
Don’t use env() outside of files in config/*.php. If you ever run php artisan config:cache (which should typically be done on Production as you’re doing), then env() will stop working outside of those files (for most situations; env keys can still be loaded, but that is not typical for most Laravel setups). This is the reason you’re having to run php artisan config:clear for env() to not return null.

Add a Key to config/app.php (or any other file in config/):
```
'open_ai_api_key' => env('OPENAI_API_KEY', null)
```
Then, when you want to use this key, use the config() helper:
```
$apiKeyOpenAI = config('app.open_ai_api_key');
$client = OpenAI::client($apiKeyOpenAI);
```
Note: app is the filename, open_ai_api_key is the array index. If you use a different file, like config/services.php, then it would be config('services.open_ai_api_key')

See the Documentation for Details:

https://laravel.com/docs/10.x/configuration#configuration-caching

If you execute the config:cache command during your deployment process, you should be sure that you are only calling the env function from within your configuration files. Once the configuration has been cached, the .env file will not be loaded; therefore, the env function will only return external, system level environment variables.
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