---
id: dotenv
version: "0.9.9"
license: unclear
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: dormant
---

# dotenv — Deprecated package

License: unclear · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 10.8M/mo

## What it is and what it does

dotenv is a Python package that reads environment variables from a .env file and loads them into the process environment. It was designed to simplify configuration management by allowing developers to store sensitive or environment-specific settings in a local file rather than hardcoding them or relying on system environment setup.

However, this package is no longer maintained. The maintainer has explicitly deprecated it and directs all users to python-dotenv, a maintained fork. The repository is dormant (last commit 541 days ago), and no active development or security updates are occurring. Installing this package introduces maintenance risk and should be avoided in favor of its actively maintained successor.

Use it for:

- Loading environment variables from a .env file in legacy projects that already depend on this specific package.
- Migrating away from this package to python-dotenv as part of a dependency upgrade.
- Understanding why a project uses dotenv and planning a transition to a maintained alternative.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Loads environment variables from a .env file into the process environment, but this package is deprecated and unsupported—use python-dotenv instead.

No. This package is explicitly deprecated by its maintainer and dormant for over a year. The maintainer directs users to python-dotenv instead. Install python-dotenv directly rather than this unsupported fork.

## Install

pip install dotenv
uv add dotenv
poetry add dotenv

## Installing dotenv

Before you install: Dormant since 541 days ago with no active maintenance. The package explicitly directs users to switch to python-dotenv, its maintained successor.

License in practice: License status is unclear; no SPDX identifier or raw license text is available in the package metadata.

Quickstart:

pip install dotenv

from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()

This package is deprecated; the maintainer explicitly recommends using python-dotenv instead. Installing it is not advised.

Verify before relying:

- Whether this package has any known security issues not yet indexed in OSV as of the fact sheet date.
- Whether the single runtime dependency python-dotenv is the recommended replacement or a transitive dependency.
- Actual Python version compatibility, since requires_python is unspecified.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (unclear)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 10.8M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

load environment variables from file, dotenv configuration, env file parser, .env loader, environment setup, config from dotenv, deprecated, unmaintained

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/dotenv) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/dotenv/)