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Environment Functions

System environment detection with intelligent caching for performance optimization.

environment

Environment and system information utilities.

Functions:

  • environment –

    Obtain details of the hardware and software environment.

environment 

environment(cache_dir: Optional[str] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]

Obtain details of the hardware and software environment.

For efficiency, this is obtained from a cached file "environment.json" if one modified in the last 24 hours is available, otherwise the OS is queried and a new cache file created.

Parameters:

  • cache_dir

    (Optional[str], default: None ) –

    Optional cache directory. If None, uses standard user cache directory for the platform.

Returns:

  • Dict[str, Any] –

    Environment information including os, cpu, python, ram.

Usage Examples

Basic Environment Detection

from causaliq_core.utils import environment

# Use default cache location
env = environment()
print(f"Running on {env['os']} with {env['ram']}GB RAM")
print(f"CPU: {env['cpu']}")
print(f"Python: {env['python']}")

Custom Cache Directory

from causaliq_core.utils import environment

# Use custom cache directory
env = environment(cache_dir="/tmp/my_cache")
print(f"OS: {env['os']}")

Returned Information

The environment function returns a dictionary with the following keys:

  • 'os': Operating system name and version
  • 'cpu': CPU brand/model information
  • 'python': Python version string
  • 'ram': Total system RAM in GB (rounded to nearest GB)

Caching Behavior

  • Cache files are stored as environment.json in the cache directory
  • Cache is refreshed if older than 24 hours
  • Uses platform-appropriate cache locations (e.g., ~/.cache on Linux, ~/Library/Caches on macOS)
  • Gracefully handles cache corruption or permission errors