Reference · Snippet · python

Load API key from environment

Last updated Jul 17, 2026

pythonsecurityopenai

import os
from openai import OpenAI

def require_env(name: str) -> str:
    value = os.environ.get(name)
    if not value:
        raise RuntimeError(f"Missing env var: {name}")
    return value

client = OpenAI(api_key=require_env("OPENAI_API_KEY"))
# Never: client = OpenAI(api_key="sk-hardcoded...")