[FIXED] Setting environment variables in jupyter hub

Issue

I followed approach in this thread. I can easily set env variable in jupyter hub using the %env VAR = 5. However, when I try to print out this variable in the terminal I get only a blank line, as if the variable did not exist at all. Is it somehow possible to be able to print in terminal the env var defined in the notebook?

Solution

Setting environment variables from the notebook results in these variables being available only from that notebook.

%env VAR=TEST
import os
print(os.environ["VAR"])
...
>>> TEST

If you want to persist the variable, you need to put it either in the kernel.json file, or in systemd service file for jupyterhub, or in something like ~/.bashrc.

Answered By - Monory