tripwire-py 0.3.0

Catch config errors before they explode - Python environment variable management with import-time validation, type safety, and secret detection

╔══════════════════════════╗
║      ━━━━━(○)━━━━━       ║
║                          ║
║     T R I P W I R E      ║
║                          ║
║    Config validation     ║
║     that fails fast      ║
╚══════════════════════════╝

Smart Environment Variable Management for Python

Catch missing/invalid environment variables at import time (not runtime) with type validation, secret detection, and git history auditing.

---

The Problem

Every Python developer has experienced this:

# Your code
import os
API_KEY = os.getenv("API_KEY")  # Returns None - no error yet

# 2 hours later in production...
response = requests.get(url, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"})
# 💥 TypeError: can only concatenate str (not "NoneType") to str

# Production is down. Users are angry. You're debugging at 2 AM.

The pain:

• Environment variables fail at runtime, not at startup
• No validation (wrong types, missing values, invalid formats)
• .env files drift across team members
• Secrets accidentally committed to git
• No type safety for configuration

---

The Solution: TripWire

TripWire validates environment variables at import time and keeps your team in sync.

Before TripWire

import os

# Runtime crash waiting to happen
DATABASE_URL = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL")  # Could be None
PORT = int(os.getenv("PORT"))  # ValueError if PORT not set
DEBUG = os.getenv("DEBUG") == "true"  # Wrong! Returns False for "True", "1", etc.

After TripWire

from tripwire import env

# Import fails immediately if vars missing/invalid
DATABASE_URL: str = env.require("DATABASE_URL", format="postgresql")
PORT: int = env.require("PORT", type=int, min_val=1, max_val=65535)
DEBUG: bool = env.optional("DEBUG", default=False, type=bool)

# Your app won't even start with bad config!

Key Benefits:

• ✅ Import-time validation - Fail fast, not in production
• ✅ Type safety - Automatic type coercion with validation
• ✅ Team sync - Keep .env files consistent across team
• ✅ Auto-documentation - Generate .env.example from code
• ✅ Secret detection - 45+ platform-specific patterns (AWS, GitHub, Stripe, etc.)
• ✅ Git history auditing - Find when secrets were leaked and generate remediation steps
• ✅ Great error messages - Know exactly what's wrong and how to fix it

---

Visual Examples

Secret Detection in Action

Auto-detect all secrets:

$ tripwire audit --all

🔍 Auto-detecting secrets in .env file...

⚠️  Found 3 potential secret(s) in .env file

Detected Secrets
┌──────────────────────┬─────────────────┬──────────┐
│ Variable             │ Type            │ Severity │
├──────────────────────┼─────────────────┼──────────┤
│ AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY│ AWS Secret Key  │ CRITICAL │
│ STRIPE_SECRET_KEY    │ Stripe API Key  │ CRITICAL │
│ DATABASE_PASSWORD    │ Generic Password│ CRITICAL │
└──────────────────────┴─────────────────┴──────────┘

📊 Secret Leak Blast Radius
═════════════════════════════════════════════

🔍 Repository Secret Exposure
├─ 🔴 🚨 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY (47 occurrence(s))
│  ├─ Branches affected:
│  │  ├─ origin/main (47 total commits)
│  │  └─ origin/develop (47 total commits)
│  └─ Files affected:
│     └─ .env
├─ 🟡 ⚠️ STRIPE_SECRET_KEY (12 occurrence(s))
│  ├─ Branches affected:
│  │  └─ origin/main (12 total commits)
│  └─ Files affected:
│     └─ .env
└─ 🟢 DATABASE_PASSWORD (0 occurrence(s))

📈 Summary
╭────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Leaked: 2                              │
│ Clean: 1                               │
│ Total commits affected: 59             │
╰────────────────────────────────────────╯

Detailed secret audit timeline:

$ tripwire audit AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Secret Leak Timeline for: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Timeline:

📅 2024-09-15
   Commit: abc123de - Initial setup
   Author: @alice <[e-mail]>
   📁 .env:15

⚠️  Still in git history (as of HEAD)
   Affects 47 commit(s)
   Found in 1 file(s)
   Branches: origin/main, origin/develop

╭──────────────── 🚨 Security Impact ────────────────╮
│ Severity: CRITICAL                                 │
│ Exposure: PUBLIC repository                        │
│ Duration: 16 days                                  │
│ Commits affected: 47                               │
│ Files affected: 1                                  │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

🔧 Remediation Steps:

1. Rotate the secret IMMEDIATELY
   Urgency: CRITICAL

   aws iam create-access-key --user-name <username>

   ⚠️  Do not skip this step - the secret is exposed!

2. Remove from git history (using git-filter-repo)
   Urgency: HIGH

   git filter-repo --path .env --invert-paths --force

   ⚠️  This will rewrite git history. Coordinate with your team!

Import-time validation:

from tripwire import env

# ✅ This validates IMMEDIATELY when Python imports the module
DATABASE_URL: str = env.require("DATABASE_URL", format="postgresql")
PORT: int = env.require("PORT", type=int, min_val=1, max_val=65535)
DEBUG: bool = env.optional("DEBUG", default=False, type=bool)

# Your app won't even start if config is invalid!

Drift detection:

$ tripwire check

Comparing .env against .env.example

Missing Variables
┌─────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ Variable    │ Status            │
├─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ NEW_VAR     │ Not set in .env   │
└─────────────┴───────────────────┘

Found 1 missing and 0 extra variable(s)

To add missing variables:
  tripwire sync

---

Quick Start

Installation

pip install tripwire-py

Note: The package name on PyPI is tripwire-py, but you import and use it as tripwire:

from tripwire import env  # Import name is 'tripwire'

Initialize Your Project

$ tripwire init

Welcome to TripWire! 🎯

✅ Created .env
✅ Created .env.example
✅ Updated .gitignore

Setup complete! ✅

Next steps:
  1. Edit .env with your configuration values
  2. Import in your code: from tripwire import env
  3. Use variables: API_KEY = env.require('API_KEY')

Basic Usage

# app.py
from tripwire import env

# Required variables (fail if missing)
API_KEY: str = env.require("API_KEY")
DATABASE_URL: str = env.require("DATABASE_URL")

# Optional with defaults
DEBUG: bool = env.optional("DEBUG", default=False, type=bool)
MAX_RETRIES: int = env.optional("MAX_RETRIES", default=3, type=int)

# Validated formats
EMAIL: str = env.require("ADMIN_EMAIL", format="email")
REDIS_URL: str = env.require("REDIS_URL", format="url")

# Now use them safely - guaranteed to be valid!
print(f"Connecting to {DATABASE_URL}")

---

Core Features

1. Import-Time Validation

The killer feature - Your app won't start with bad config.

from tripwire import env

# This line MUST succeed or ImportError is raised
API_KEY = env.require("API_KEY")

# No more runtime surprises!

2. Type Coercion & Validation

Automatic type conversion with validation.

from tripwire import env

# Strings (default)
API_KEY: str = env.require("API_KEY")

# Integers with range validation
PORT: int = env.require("PORT", type=int, min_val=1, max_val=65535)
MAX_CONNECTIONS: int = env.optional("MAX_CONNECTIONS", default=100, type=int, min_val=1)

# Booleans (handles "true", "True", "1", "yes", "on", etc.)
DEBUG: bool = env.optional("DEBUG", default=False, type=bool)

# Floats
TIMEOUT: float = env.optional("TIMEOUT", default=30.0, type=float)

# Lists (comma-separated or JSON)
ALLOWED_HOSTS: list = env.require("ALLOWED_HOSTS", type=list)
# .env: ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,example.com,api.example.com
# Or: ALLOWED_HOSTS=["localhost", "example.com"]

# Dictionaries (JSON or key=value pairs)
FEATURE_FLAGS: dict = env.optional("FEATURE_FLAGS", default={}, type=dict)
# .env: FEATURE_FLAGS={"new_ui": true, "beta": false}
# Or: FEATURE_FLAGS=new_ui=true,beta=false

# Choices/Enums
ENVIRONMENT: str = env.require(
    "ENVIRONMENT",
    choices=["development", "staging", "production"]
)

3. Format Validators

Built-in validators for common formats.

from tripwire import env

# Email validation
ADMIN_EMAIL: str = env.require("ADMIN_EMAIL", format="email")

# URL validation
API_BASE_URL: str = env.require("API_BASE_URL", format="url")

# Database URL validation
DATABASE_URL: str = env.require("DATABASE_URL", format="postgresql")

# UUID validation
SERVICE_ID: str = env.require("SERVICE_ID", format="uuid")

# IP address
SERVER_IP: str = env.require("SERVER_IP", format="ipv4")

# Custom regex
API_KEY: str = env.require("API_KEY", pattern=r"^sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}$")

4. Custom Validators

Write your own validation logic.

from tripwire import env, validator

@validator
def validate_s3_bucket(value: str) -> bool:
    """S3 bucket names must be 3-63 chars, lowercase, no underscores."""
    if not 3 <= len(value) <= 63:
        return False
    if not value.islower():
        return False
    if "_" in value:
        return False
    return True

# Use custom validator
S3_BUCKET: str = env.require("S3_BUCKET", validator=validate_s3_bucket)

# Or inline lambda
PORT: int = env.require(
    "PORT",
    type=int,
    validator=lambda x: 1024 <= x <= 65535,
    error_message="Port must be between 1024 and 65535"
)

---

CLI Commands

tripwire init - Initialize Project

Create .env files and update .gitignore.

$ tripwire init --project-type web

Options:
  --project-type [web|cli|data|other]  Type of project (affects starter variables)

Examples:
  tripwire init                    # Initialize with default template
  tripwire init --project-type web # Web application with DATABASE_URL, etc.

tripwire generate - Generate .env.example

Scans your code and generates .env.example automatically.

$ tripwire generate

Scanning Python files for environment variables...
Found 5 unique environment variable(s)
✓ Generated .env.example with 5 variable(s)
  - 3 required
  - 2 optional

Options:
  --output FILE    Output file (default: .env.example)
  --check          Check if .env.example is up to date (CI mode)
  --force          Overwrite existing file

Examples:
  tripwire generate                    # Create .env.example
  tripwire generate --check            # Validate in CI
  tripwire generate --output .env.dev  # Custom output

tripwire check - Check for Drift

Compare your .env against .env.example.

$ tripwire check

Comparing .env against .env.example

Missing Variables
┌─────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ Variable    │ Status            │
├─────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ NEW_VAR     │ Not set in .env   │
└─────────────┴───────────────────┘

Found 1 missing and 0 extra variable(s)

To add missing variables:
  tripwire sync

Options:
  --env-file FILE   .env file to check (default: .env)
  --example FILE    .env.example to compare against
  --strict          Exit 1 if differences found
  --json            Output as JSON

Examples:
  tripwire check                       # Check .env vs .env.example
  tripwire check --strict              # Exit 1 if differences
  tripwire check --env-file .env.prod  # Check production env

tripwire sync - Synchronize .env

Update your .env to match .env.example.

$ tripwire sync

Synchronizing .env with .env.example

Will add 1 missing variable(s):
  + NEW_VAR

✓ Synchronized .env
  Added 1 variable(s)

Note: Fill in values for new variables in .env

Options:
  --env-file FILE   .env file to sync (default: .env)
  --example FILE    .env.example to sync from
  --dry-run         Show changes without applying
  --interactive     Confirm each change

Examples:
  tripwire sync                        # Sync .env
  tripwire sync --dry-run              # Preview changes
  tripwire sync --interactive          # Confirm each change

tripwire scan - Scan for Secrets

Detect potential secrets in .env file and git history.

$ tripwire scan

Scanning for secrets...

Scanning .env file...
✓ No secrets found in .env

Scanning last 100 commits in git history...
✓ No secrets found in git history

✓ No secrets detected
Your environment files appear secure

Options:
  --strict    Exit 1 if secrets found
  --depth N   Number of git commits to scan (default: 100)

Examples:
  tripwire scan               # Scan for secrets
  tripwire scan --strict      # Fail on secrets (CI)
  tripwire scan --depth 500   # Scan more commits

Detects 45+ types of secrets:

• Cloud: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Heroku, Alibaba, IBM
• CI/CD: GitHub, GitLab, CircleCI, Travis, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Docker Hub, Terraform
• Communication: Slack, Discord, Twilio, SendGrid
• Payments: Stripe, PayPal, Square, Shopify, Coinbase
• Email/SMS: Mailgun, Mailchimp, Postmark
• Databases: MongoDB, Redis, Firebase
• Services: Datadog, New Relic, PagerDuty, Sentry, Algolia, Cloudflare
• Package Managers: NPM, PyPI
• Generic: PASSWORD, TOKEN, SECRET, ENCRYPTION_KEY patterns

tripwire audit - Audit Git History for Secret Leaks

FLAGSHIP FEATURE - Find when and where secrets were leaked in git history.

# Audit a specific secret
$ tripwire audit AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Analyzing git history for: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Secret Leak Timeline for: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Timeline:

📅 2024-09-15
   Commit: abc123de - Initial setup
   Author: @alice <[e-mail]>
   📁 .env:15

⚠️  Still in git history (as of HEAD)
   Affects 47 commit(s)
   Found in 1 file(s)
   Branches: origin/main, origin/develop

╭──────────────── 🚨 Security Impact ────────────────╮
│ Severity: CRITICAL                                 │
│ Exposure: PUBLIC repository                        │
│ Duration: 16 days                                  │
│ Commits affected: 47                               │
│ Files affected: 1                                  │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

🔧 Remediation Steps:

1. Rotate the secret IMMEDIATELY
   Urgency: CRITICAL
   Generate a new secret and update all systems.

   aws iam create-access-key --user-name <username>

   ⚠️  Do not skip this step - the secret is exposed!

2. Remove from git history (using git-filter-repo)
   Urgency: HIGH
   Rewrite git history to remove the secret from 47 commit(s).

   git filter-repo --path .env --invert-paths --force

   ⚠️  This will rewrite git history. Coordinate with your team!

[... additional steps ...]

Auto-detect all secrets in .env:

$ tripwire audit --all

🔍 Auto-detecting secrets in .env file...

⚠️  Found 3 potential secret(s) in .env file

Detected Secrets
┌──────────────────────┬─────────────────┬──────────┐
│ Variable             │ Type            │ Severity │
├──────────────────────┼─────────────────┼──────────┤
│ AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY│ AWS Secret Key  │ CRITICAL │
│ STRIPE_SECRET_KEY    │ Stripe API Key  │ CRITICAL │
│ DATABASE_PASSWORD    │ Generic Password│ CRITICAL │
└──────────────────────┴─────────────────┴──────────┘

════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Auditing: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

[... full audit for each secret ...]

📊 Secret Leak Blast Radius
═════════════════════════════════════════════

🔍 Repository Secret Exposure
├─ 🔴 🚨 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY (47 occurrence(s))
│  ├─ Branches affected:
│  │  ├─ origin/main (47 total commits)
│  │  └─ origin/develop (47 total commits)
│  └─ Files affected:
│     └─ .env
├─ 🟡 ⚠️ STRIPE_SECRET_KEY (12 occurrence(s))
│  ├─ Branches affected:
│  │  └─ origin/main (12 total commits)
│  └─ Files affected:
│     └─ .env
└─ 🟢 DATABASE_PASSWORD (0 occurrence(s))

📈 Summary
╭────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Leaked: 2                              │
│ Clean: 1                               │
│ Total commits affected: 59             │
╰────────────────────────────────────────╯

Command options:

# Audit specific secret
tripwire audit SECRET_NAME

# Auto-detect and audit all secrets in .env
tripwire audit --all

# Provide actual secret value for exact matching
tripwire audit API_KEY --value "sk-abc123..."

# Control commit depth
tripwire audit SECRET_KEY --max-commits 5000

# JSON output for CI/CD
tripwire audit --all --json

Options:
  SECRET_NAME         Name of secret to audit (or use --all)
  --all               Auto-detect and audit all secrets in .env
  --value TEXT        Actual secret value (more accurate)
  --max-commits INT   Maximum commits to analyze (default: 1000)
  --json              Output as JSON

Examples:
  tripwire audit AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY       # Audit specific secret
  tripwire audit --all                       # Auto-detect and audit all
  tripwire audit API_KEY --value "sk-..."    # Exact value matching
  tripwire audit DATABASE_URL --json         # JSON output

What it analyzes:

• 📅 Timeline - When the secret first/last appeared
• 📁 Files - Which files contained the secret
• 👤 Authors - Who committed it
• 🔢 Commits - How many commits are affected
• 🌿 Branches - Which branches contain the secret
• 🌍 Public/Private - Whether repo is public
• 🚨 Severity - CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW
• 🔧 Remediation - Step-by-step fix instructions

See docs/audit.md for complete documentation.

tripwire validate - Validate Without Running App

Check that your .env file has all required variables.

$ tripwire validate

Validating .env...

Scanning code for environment variable requirements...
Found 5 variable(s): 3 required, 2 optional

✓ All required variables are set
  3 required variable(s) validated
  2 optional variable(s) available

Options:
  --env-file FILE   .env file to validate (default: .env)

Examples:
  tripwire validate                    # Validate current .env
  tripwire validate --env-file .env.prod

tripwire docs - Generate Documentation

Create documentation for environment variables.

$ tripwire docs

Scanning code for environment variables...
Found 5 unique variable(s)

# Environment Variables

This document describes all environment variables used in this project.

## Required Variables

| Variable | Type | Description | Validation |
|----------|------|-------------|------------|
| `API_KEY` | string | OpenAI API key | Pattern: `^sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}$` |
| `DATABASE_URL` | string | PostgreSQL connection | Format: postgresql |
| `REDIS_URL` | string | Redis connection | Format: url |

## Optional Variables

| Variable | Type | Default | Description | Validation |
|----------|------|---------|-------------|------------|
| `DEBUG` | bool | `False` | Enable debug mode | - |
| `MAX_RETRIES` | int | `3` | Max retry attempts | - |

Options:
  --format [markdown|html|json]  Output format (default: markdown)
  --output FILE                  Output file (default: stdout)

Examples:
  tripwire docs                         # Markdown to stdout
  tripwire docs --format html > doc.html
  tripwire docs --output ENV_VARS.md

---

Advanced Usage

Multi-Environment Support

Load different env files for different environments.

from tripwire import env

# Load base .env
env.load(".env")

# Override with environment-specific settings
env.load(".env.local", override=True)  # Local development

# Or use environment detection
import os
environment = os.getenv("ENVIRONMENT", "development")
env.load(f".env.{environment}", override=True)

File structure:

.env                  # Base settings (committed)
.env.example          # Documentation (committed)
.env.local            # Local overrides (gitignored)
.env.test             # Test environment (committed)
.env.production       # Production (gitignored)

Programmatic Usage

from tripwire import TripWire

# Create custom instance
custom_env = TripWire(
    env_file=".env.custom",
    auto_load=True,
    strict=False,
    detect_secrets=False
)

# Load multiple files
custom_env.load_files([".env", ".env.local"])

# Get variable
api_key = custom_env.require("API_KEY", pattern=r"^sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}$")

# Check if variable exists
if custom_env.has("FEATURE_FLAG"):
    feature_enabled = custom_env.get("FEATURE_FLAG", type=bool)

# Get all variables
all_vars = custom_env.all()  # Dict of all env vars

Framework Integration Examples

FastAPI

from fastapi import FastAPI
from tripwire import env

# Load env vars at module level (fail-fast)
DATABASE_URL: str = env.require("DATABASE_URL")
REDIS_URL: str = env.require("REDIS_URL")
SECRET_KEY: str = env.require("SECRET_KEY", secret=True)

app = FastAPI()

@app.on_event("startup")
async def startup():
    # Env vars already validated at import time
    print(f"Connecting to {DATABASE_URL}")

Django

# settings.py
from tripwire import env

# Replace os.getenv with env.require/optional
SECRET_KEY = env.require("DJANGO_SECRET_KEY", secret=True)
DEBUG = env.optional("DEBUG", default=False, type=bool)
ALLOWED_HOSTS = env.require("ALLOWED_HOSTS", type=list)

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': env.require("DB_NAME"),
        'USER': env.require("DB_USER"),
        'PASSWORD': env.require("DB_PASSWORD", secret=True),
        'HOST': env.require("DB_HOST"),
        'PORT': env.require("DB_PORT", type=int, default=5432),
    }
}

Flask

from flask import Flask
from tripwire import env

# Validate before app creation
DATABASE_URL: str = env.require("DATABASE_URL")
SECRET_KEY: str = env.require("SECRET_KEY", secret=True)
DEBUG: bool = env.optional("DEBUG", default=False, type=bool)

app = Flask(__name__)
app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = DATABASE_URL
app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = SECRET_KEY
app.config['DEBUG'] = DEBUG

---

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions - Validate Environment

name: Validate Environment

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  validate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install TripWire
        run: pip install tripwire-py

      - name: Validate .env.example is up to date
        run: tripwire generate --check

      - name: Check for secrets in git
        run: tripwire scan --strict

GitHub Actions - Audit for Secret Leaks

name: Secret Audit

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  audit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # Need full history

      - name: Install tripwire
        run: pip install tripwire-py

      - name: Audit all secrets
        run: |
          # Create temporary .env for detection
          cat > .env << EOF
          AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=placeholder
          DATABASE_URL=placeholder
          API_KEY=placeholder
          EOF

          # Run audit
          tripwire audit --all --json > audit_results.json

          # Check if any secrets leaked
          if jq -e '.secrets[] | select(.status == "LEAKED")' audit_results.json; then
            echo "::error::Secret leak detected in git history!"
            jq . audit_results.json
            exit 1
          fi

---

Comparison with Alternatives

Note: This comparison reflects features as of October 2025. All libraries shown are actively maintained and serve different use cases. TripWire builds upon python-dotenv for .env parsing. Choose based on your project's specific requirements.

Feature	TripWire	python-decouple	environs	pydantic-settings	python-dotenv
Import-time validation¹	✅	❌	⚠️²	⚠️³	❌
Type coercion	✅	⚠️ Basic	✅	✅	❌
Format validators	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
.env.example generation	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Team sync (drift detection)	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Secret detection (45+ patterns)	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Git history auditing	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
CLI tools	✅	❌	❌	❌	⚠️⁴
Helpful error messages	✅	⚠️	✅	✅	❌
Multi-environment	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Footnotes:

1. TripWire validates when env.require() is called at module-level
2. environs validates eagerly by default when parsing (can be at import time)
3. pydantic-settings validates at instantiation, which can be import-time if done at module level
4. python-dotenv CLI is for command execution with .env files, not .env management

What Makes TripWire Different?

While all these libraries handle environment variables, TripWire focuses on the complete developer workflow:

• Prevent production failures with import-time validation
• Keep teams in sync with automated .env.example generation
• Protect secrets with detection and git history auditing
• Streamline onboarding with CLI tools for env management

TripWire is designed for teams that want comprehensive config management, not just loading .env files.

When to Choose Each Library

Choose TripWire When:

• You need guaranteed import-time validation to prevent production starts with invalid config
• Your team struggles with .env file drift and keeping documentation current
• Security is paramount and you need secret detection/git history auditing
• You want automated .env.example generation from your code
• You prefer comprehensive CLI tools for environment management
• You're on Python 3.11+ and don't mind additional dependencies for rich features

Choose python-dotenv When:

• You need a minimal, zero-config .env loader
• You want the de facto standard with maximum compatibility
• You're building a simple script or small project
• You prefer to handle validation separately or don't need it
• You need variable interpolation (references between env vars)
• Minimal dependencies are a priority

Choose environs When:

• You need comprehensive type validation powered by marshmallow
• You want extensive built-in validators (email, URL, UUID, etc.)
• You prefer explicit parsing with the option for deferred validation
• You're already using marshmallow in your project
• You want validation errors collected together rather than failing fast

Choose pydantic-settings When:

• Your project already uses Pydantic for data validation
• You want type safety with dataclasses/BaseModel
• You need settings to integrate seamlessly with FastAPI
• You want strict vs lax parsing modes
• You need advanced features like model validators and serializers

Choose python-decouple When:

• You want strict separation of config from code with minimal overhead
• You need something simple with basic type casting
• You're working on a Django project
• You want zero dependencies
• You need INI file support alongside .env

Acknowledgments

TripWire builds on the excellent work of the Python community, particularly:

• python-dotenv for reliable .env file parsing
• The validation patterns pioneered by environs and pydantic
• The config separation philosophy of python-decouple

Each of these projects has made significant contributions to Python configuration management, and TripWire aims to complement them by focusing on team workflow and security concerns.

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Configuration as Code (v0.3.0)

Define your environment variables declaratively using TOML schemas.

Quick Start

1. Create schema:

tripwire schema init

2. Define variables in .tripwire.toml:

[project]
name = "my-app"
version = "1.0.0"

[variables.DATABASE_URL]
type = "string"
required = true
format = "postgresql"
description = "PostgreSQL connection"
secret = true

[variables.PORT]
type = "int"
required = false
default = 8000
min = 1024
max = 65535

[environments.development]
DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://localhost:5432/dev"

[environments.production]
strict_secrets = true

3. Validate your .env:

tripwire schema validate --environment production

4. Auto-generate .env.example:

tripwire schema generate-example

Benefits

• Single Source of Truth - All env var contracts in one file
• Type Safety - Enforced types, formats, ranges
• Environment-Specific Defaults - Different values for dev/staging/prod
• CI/CD Ready - Perfect for GitHub Actions validation
• Auto-Documentation - Generate .env.example from schema

CLI Commands

schema init - Create Schema Template

$ tripwire schema init

✓ Created .tripwire.toml

Next steps:
  1. Edit .tripwire.toml to define your environment variables
  2. Run tripwire schema validate to check your .env file
  3. Run tripwire schema generate-example to create .env.example from schema

schema validate - Validate Against Schema

$ tripwire schema validate --environment production

Validating .env against .tripwire.toml...

Environment: production

✓ Validation passed!
All environment variables are valid

Options:
  --env-file FILE       .env file to validate (default: .env)
  --schema-file FILE    Schema file (default: .tripwire.toml)
  --environment ENV     Environment name (default: development)
  --strict              Exit with error if validation fails

Examples:
  tripwire schema validate
  tripwire schema validate --environment production --strict
  tripwire schema validate --env-file .env.prod

schema check - Validate Schema Syntax

$ tripwire schema check

Checking .tripwire.toml...

✓ TOML syntax is valid
✓ Schema structure is valid
✓ All format validators exist
✓ All type values are valid
✓ Environment references are valid

✓ Schema is valid

Options:
  --schema-file FILE    Schema file to validate (default: .tripwire.toml)

Examples:
  tripwire schema check
  tripwire schema check --schema-file custom.toml

schema import - Generate from Code

$ tripwire schema import

Scanning Python files for environment variables...
Found 5 unique variable(s)

Generating .tripwire.toml...

✓ Generated .tripwire.toml with 5 variable(s)
  - 3 required
  - 2 optional

Next steps:
  1. Review .tripwire.toml and customize as needed
  2. Run: tripwire schema validate

Options:
  --output FILE    Output schema file (default: .tripwire.toml)
  --force          Overwrite existing file

Examples:
  tripwire schema import
  tripwire schema import --output custom.toml --force

schema generate-example - Generate .env.example

$ tripwire schema generate-example

Generating .env.example from .tripwire.toml...

✓ Generated .env.example
  11 variable(s) defined

Options:
  --schema-file FILE    Schema file (default: .tripwire.toml)
  --output FILE         Output file (default: .env.example)
  --force               Overwrite existing file

Examples:
  tripwire schema generate-example
  tripwire schema generate-example --output .env.dev

GitHub Actions Integration

name: Validate Environment

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  validate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'
      - run: pip install tripwire-py
      - run: tripwire schema validate --environment production --strict

See full documentation →

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Development Roadmap

Implemented Features ✅

• Environment variable loading
• Import-time validation
• Type coercion (str, int, bool, float, list, dict)
• Format validators (email, url, uuid, ipv4, postgresql)
• Custom validators
• Required vs optional variables
• Helpful error messages
• .env.example generation from code
• Drift detection (check command)
• Team sync (sync command)
• Multi-environment support
• Documentation generation (docs command)
• Secret detection (45+ platform-specific patterns)
• Generic credential detection (PASSWORD, TOKEN, SECRET, etc.)
• Git history scanning for secrets (scan command)
• Git audit with timeline and remediation (audit command)
• Auto-detect and audit all secrets (audit --all)
• CLI implementation with rich output
• Project initialization (init command)

Planned Features 📋

• Pre-commit hooks (install-hooks command)
• Configuration file support (tripwire.toml)
• VS Code extension (env var autocomplete)
• PyCharm plugin
• Cloud secrets support (AWS Secrets Manager, Vault, etc.)
• Encrypted .env files
• Web UI for team env management
• Environment variable versioning
• Audit logging
• Compliance reports (SOC2, HIPAA)

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Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get started:

Development Setup

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/Daily-Nerd/TripWire.git
cd tripwire

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Run linter
ruff check .

# Format code
black .

Running Tests

# Run all tests
pytest

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=tripwire --cov-report=html

# Run specific test file
pytest tests/test_validation.py

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License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

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Acknowledgments

Inspired by:

• python-dotenv - .env file loading
• python-decouple - Config management
• environs - Environment variable parsing
• pydantic-settings - Settings management

Built with:

• click - CLI framework
• rich - Terminal formatting
• python-dotenv - .env parsing

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Support

• GitHub: github.com/Daily-Nerd/TripWire
• Issues: github.com/Daily-Nerd/TripWire/issues

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TripWire - Environment variables that just work. 🎯

Stop debugging production crashes. Start shipping with confidence.