Environment Variables

Beginning in version 8.12, es_client allows you to use environment variables to configure settings without needing to specify a command-line option or a configuration file option.

This should prove exceptionally useful in containerized applications like Kubernetes or Docker.

Usage

A configuration file example:

elasticsearch:
  client:
    hosts: http://127.0.0.1:9200
  other_settings:
    username: user
    password: pass

Which would be run as follows:

myapp.py --config /path/to/config.yml

or a command-line example:

myapp.py --hosts http://127.0.0.1:9200 --username user --password pass

Can both be executed with no configuration file and no command-line options as follows:

ESCLIENT_HOSTS=http://127.0.0.1:9200 ESCLIENT_USERNAME=user ESCLIENT_PASSWORD=pass myapp.py

In Kubernetes or Docker based applications, these environment variables can be set in advance, making the program call exceptionally clean. Of course, you’re still welcome to use a configuration file, but identify it with an environment variable:

ESCLIENT_CONFIG=/path/to/config.yml myapp.py

List of Environment Variables

Commonly Used Environment Variables

Configuration File	Command-Line	Environment Variable
	--config	ESCLIENT_CONFIG
hosts	--hosts	ESCLIENT_HOSTS
cloud_id	--cloud_id	ESCLIENT_CLOUD_ID
token	--api_token	ESCLIENT_API_TOKEN
id	--id	ESCLIENT_ID
api_key	--api_key	ESCLIENT_API_KEY
username	--username	ESCLIENT_USERNAME
password	--password	ESCLIENT_PASSWORD
request_timeout	--request_timeout	ESCLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT
verify_certs	--verify_certs	ESCLIENT_VERIFY_CERTS
ca_certs	--ca_certs	ESCLIENT_CA_CERTS
client_cert	--client_cert	ESCLIENT_CLIENT_CERT
client_key	--client_key	ESCLIENT_CLIENT_KEY
loglevel	--loglevel	ESCLIENT_LOGLEVEL
logfile	--logfile	ESCLIENT_LOGFILE
logformat	--logformat	ESCLIENT_LOGFORMAT

Uncommon Environment Variables

Configuration File	Command-Line	Environment Variable
blacklist	--blacklist	ESCLIENT_BLACKLIST
master_only	--master-only	ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY
skip_version_test	--skip_version_test	ESCLIENT_SKIP_VERSION_TEST
bearer_auth	--bearer_auth	ESCLIENT_BEARER_AUTH
opaque_id	--opaque_id	ESCLIENT_OPAQUE_ID
http_compress	--http_compress	ESCLIENT_HTTP_COMPRESS
ssl_version	--ssl_version	ESCLIENT_SSL_VERSION
ssl_assert_hostname	--ssl_assert_hostname	ESCLIENT_SSL_ASSERT_HOSTNAME
ssl_assert_fingerprint	--ssl_assert_fingerprint	ESCLIENT_SSL_ASSERT_FINGERPRINT

Settings With Multiple Values

Settings With Multiple Values

Configuration File	Command-Line	Environment Variable
hosts	--hosts	ESCLIENT_HOSTS
blacklist	--blacklist	ESCLIENT_BLACKLIST

Where multiple values are permitted, as with the hosts and blacklist settings, this is done by simply specifying multiple values within quotes, e.g.

ESCLIENT_HOSTS="http://127.0.0.1:9200 http://localhost:9200"

This will automatically expand into an array of values:

config: {'client': {'hosts': ['http://127.0.0.1:9200', 'http://localhost:9200']}}...

Settings With Boolean Values

Settings With Boolean Values

Configuration File	Command-Line	Environment Variable
verify_certs	--verify_certs	ESCLIENT_VERIFY_CERTS
master_only	--master-only	ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY
skip_version_test	--skip_version_test	ESCLIENT_SKIP_VERSION_TEST
http_compress	--http_compress	ESCLIENT_HTTP_COMPRESS

Where boolean values are accepted, as with the verify_certs setting, this is done with any acceptable boolean-eque value, e.g. 0, F, False for false values, or 1, T, True for true values:

ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY=true
ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY=T
ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY=1

Results in:

'other_settings': {'master_only': True,...

While:

ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY=false
ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY=F
ESCLIENT_MASTER_ONLY=0

Results in:

'other_settings': {'master_only': False,...

NOTE: All string-based booleans are case-insensitive.

Acceptable Boolean Values

True	False
1	0
True, TRUE, true	False, FALSE, false
T, t	F, f