feat: Update guide for applying and using keys in camel (#1176)

Co-authored-by: Wendong <[email protected]>

.env

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# To use these environment variables:
+# 1. Populate the .env file with your API keys.
+# 2. Include the following code snippet in your Python script:
+#    from dotenv import load_dotenv
+#    import os
+#
+#    load_dotenv()  # Load environment variables from .env file
+
+#===========================================
+# Models API
+#===========================================
+
+# OpenAI API (https://platform.openai.com/signup)
+OPENAI_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Anthropic API (https://www.anthropic.com/)
+ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Groq API (https://groq.com/)
+GROQ_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Cohere API (https://cohere.ai/)
+COHERE_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Hugging Face API (https://huggingface.co/join)
+HF_TOKEN="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Azure OpenAI API (https://azure.microsoft.com/products/cognitive-services/openai-service/)
+AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+AZURE_API_VERSION="Fill your API Version here"
+AZURE_DEPLOYMENT_NAME="Fill your Deployment Name here"
+AZURE_OPENAI_BASE_URL="Fill your Base URL here"
+
+# Mistral API (https://mistral.ai/)
+MISTRAL_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Reka API (https://www.reka.ai/)
+REKA_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Zhipu AI API (https://www.zhipu.ai/)
+ZHIPUAI_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+ZHIPUAI_API_BASE_URL="Fill your Base URL here"
+
+# Qwen API (https://help.aliyun.com/document_detail/611472.html)
+QWEN_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# LingYi API (https://platform.lingyiwanwu.com/apikeys)
+YI_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+#===========================================
+# Tools & Services API
+#===========================================
+
+# Google Search API (https://developers.google.com/custom-search/v1/overview)
+GOOGLE_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+SEARCH_ENGINE_ID="Fill your API key here"
+
+# OpenWeatherMap API (https://home.openweathermap.org/users/sign_up)
+OPENWEATHERMAP_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# NVIDIA API (https://build.nvidia.com/explore/discover)
+NVIDIA_API_BASE_URL="Fill your API key here"
+NVIDIA_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# Neo4j Database (https://neo4j.com/)
+NEO4J_URI="Fill your API key here"
+NEO4J_USERNAME="Fill your User Name here"
+NEO4J_PASSWORD="Fill your Password here"
+
+# Firecrawl API (https://www.firecrawl.dev/)
+FIRECRAWL_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"
+
+# AskNews API (https://docs.asknews.app/en/reference)
+ASKNEWS_CLIENT_ID="Fill your Client ID here"
+ASKNEWS_CLIENT_SECRET="Fill your Client Secret here"
+
+# Chunkr API (https://chunkr.ai/)
+CHUNKR_API_KEY="Fill your API key here"

.gitignore

@@ -125,7 +125,6 @@ celerybeat.pid
 *.sage.py
 
 # Environments
-.env
 .venv
 env/
 venv/

README.md

@@ -207,6 +207,37 @@ Replace `<insert your OpenAI API key>` with your actual OpenAI API key in each c
 
 Please note that the environment variable is session-specific. If you open a new terminal window or tab, you will need to set the API key again in that new session.
 
+**For `.env` File:**
+
+To simplify the process of managing API Keys, you can use store information in a `.env` file and load them into your application dynamically.
+
+1. Modify .env file in the root directory of CAMEL and fill the following lines:
+
+```bash
+OPENAI_API_KEY=<fill your API KEY here>
+```
+
+Replace <fill your API KEY here> with your actual API key.
+
+2. Load the .env file in your Python script: Use the load_dotenv() function from the dotenv module to load the variables from the .env file into the environment. Here's an example:
+
+```python
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+import os
+
+# Load environment variables from the .env file
+load_dotenv()
+```
+For more details about the key names in project and how to apply key, 
+you can refer to [here](https://github.com/camel-ai/camel/.env).
+
+> [!TIP]
+> By default, the load_dotenv() function does not overwrite existing environment variables that are already set in your system. It only populates variables that are missing.
+If you need to overwrite existing environment variables with the values from your `.env` file, use the `override=True` parameter:
+> ```python
+> load_dotenv(override=True)
+> ```
+
 After setting the OpenAI API key, you can run the `role_playing.py` script. Find tasks for various assistant-user roles [here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/194PPaSTBR07m-PzjS-Ty6KlPLdFIPQDd/view?usp=share_link).
 
 ```bash