.env.development

import environ env = environ.Env() environ.Env.read_env(overwrite=True)

The most common horror story in software is a developer accidentally running DROP DATABASE on the production server. By using .env.development , you explicitly point your development server to a local or staging database. Even if your code has a destructive bug, your production data remains untouched. .env.development

New developers joining a team should clone the repo and run npm start without fighting database connections. A well-tuned .env.development provides sane defaults (e.g., a local SQLite database vs. a cloud PostgreSQL instance). import environ env = environ