Python 3 and Environment Variables Now Available in Builds

We’ve shipped two features that make your build pipeline more flexible: Python 3 in all build containers, and per-site environment variables.

Python 3 in Build Containers

Python 3 is now pre-installed in every build container — Hugo, Jekyll, and Static. You can call python3 directly in your build command with no setup required.

This is useful any time you need a bit of scripting as part of your build. Chain it after your main build step:

hugo --minify && python3 scripts/generate-redirects.py

Some things you might use it for:

• Generating redirect maps or short links from a data file
• Processing CSV or JSON data into page content
• Running a custom templating or post-processing script
• Fetching data from an API at build time (when paired with environment variables)

Any Python script in your repo can be called as part of the build command. Standard library modules are available out of the box.

Environment Variables

You can now set key-value environment variables per site via Settings > Environment Variables in the dashboard. Variables are passed securely to the build container and available as standard shell variables.

echo $MY_API_KEY  # available during build

Each site supports up to 20 variables. Values are masked in the dashboard by default, with a show/hide toggle for when you need to check them.

Use cases include:

• API keys for build-time data fetching
• Feature flags that differ between staging and production sites
• Configuration values you don’t want committed to your repo
• Secrets for custom Python or shell scripts

One important note: environment variables are only available during the build step. Since your site is served as static files, variables are not accessible at runtime — they’re injected into the build container and discarded when the build finishes.

Get Started

Both features are available now for all sites. No changes needed — Python 3 is already in your build container, and environment variables can be added from the dashboard whenever you need them.

If you have questions or feedback, get in touch at .