Question

My Streamlit app cannot access environment variables after deployment Is this a secrets configuration issue

Answer 1

Yes this sounds like a configuration issue , the exact fox depends on where you deployed it .
Streamlit system usually uses its own secret systems not .env files .
The local .env files don't go with you when you do the deployment. Streamlit has its own secret manager
# You configure this in Streamlit Cloud dashboard

# Settings → Secrets → paste this in

OPENAI_API_KEY = "sk-your-key-here"

DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://..."

[database]

host = "localhost"

port = 5432

Then in your code, access it like this: 

import streamlit as st

# Access flat secrets

api_key = st.secrets["OPENAI_API_KEY"]

# Access nested secrets

db_host = st.secrets["database"]["host"]

# Or use it like a dict

db_config = st.secrets["database"]