> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.kivy.fun/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.kivy.fun/programming-guide/environment.md). # Controlling the Environment Many environment variables are available to control the initialization and behavior of Kivy. For example, in order to restrict text rendering to the PIL implementation: ``` $ KIVY_TEXT=pil python main.py ``` Environment variables should be set before importing kivy: ``` import os os.environ['KIVY_TEXT'] = 'pil' import kivy ``` ## Path control 1.0.7 You can control the default directories where config files, modules and kivy data are located. KIVY\_DATA\_DIR\ Location of the Kivy data, defaults to \/data KIVY\_MODULES\_DIR\ Location of the Kivy modules, defaults to \/modules KIVY\_HOME\ Location of the Kivy home. This directory is used for local configuration, and must be in a writable location. Defaults to: * Desktop: \/.kivy * Android: \/.kivy * iOS: \/Documents/.kivy 1.9.0 KIVY\_SDL2\_PATH\ If set, the SDL2 libraries and headers from this path are used when compiling kivy instead of the ones installed system-wide. To use the same libraries while running a kivy app, this path must be added at the start of the PATH environment variable. 1.9.0 Warning This path is required for the compilation of Kivy. It is not required for program execution. ## Configuration KIVY\_USE\_DEFAULTCONFIG\ If this name is found in environ, Kivy will not read the user config file. KIVY\_NO\_CONFIG\ If set, no configuration file will be read or written to. This also applies to the user configuration directory. KIVY\_NO\_FILELOG\ If set, logs will be not print to a file KIVY\_NO\_CONSOLELOG\ If set, logs will be not print to the console KIVY\_NO\_ARGS\ If set, the argument passed in command line will not be parsed and used by Kivy. Ie, you can safely make a script or an app with your own arguments without requiring the -- delimiter: ``` import os os.environ["KIVY_NO_ARGS"] = "1" import kivy ``` 1.9.0 ## Restrict core to specific implementation `kivy.core` try to select the best implementation available for your platform. For testing or custom installation, you might want to restrict the selector to a specific implementation. KIVY\_WINDOW\ Implementation to use for creating the Window Values: sdl2, pygame, x11, egl\_rpi KIVY\_TEXT\ Implementation to use for rendering text Values: sdl2, pil, pygame, sdlttf KIVY\_VIDEO\ Implementation to use for rendering video Values: gstplayer, ffpyplayer, ffmpeg, null KIVY\_AUDIO\ Implementation to use for playing audio Values: sdl2, gstplayer, ffpyplayer, pygame, avplayer KIVY\_IMAGE\ Implementation to use for reading image Values: sdl2, pil, pygame, imageio, tex, dds, gif KIVY\_CAMERA\ Implementation to use for reading camera Values: avfoundation, android, opencv KIVY\_SPELLING\ Implementation to use for spelling Values: enchant, osxappkit KIVY\_CLIPBOARD\ Implementation to use for clipboard management Values: sdl2, pygame, dummy, android ## Metrics KIVY\_DPI\ If set, the value will be used for `Metrics.dpi`. 1.4.0 KIVY\_METRICS\_DENSITY\ If set, the value will be used for `Metrics.density`. 1.5.0 KIVY\_METRICS\_FONTSCALE > If set, the value will be used for `Metrics.fontscale`. > > 1.5.0 ## Graphics KIVY\_GL\_BACKEND\ The OpenGL backend to use. See `~kivy.graphics.cgl`. KIVY\_GL\_DEBUG\ Whether to log OpenGL calls. See `~kivy.graphics.cgl`. KIVY\_GRAPHICS\ Whether to use OpenGL ES2. See `~kivy.graphics.cgl`. KIVY\_GLES\_LIMITS\ Whether the GLES2 restrictions are enforced (the default, or if set to 1). If set to false, Kivy will not be truly GLES2 compatible. Following is a list of the potential incompatibilities that result when set to true. | | | | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Mesh indices | If true, the number of indices in a mesh is limited to 65535 | | Texture blit | When blitting to a texture, the data (color and buffer) format must be the same format as the one used at the texture creation. On desktop, the conversion of different color is correctly handled by the driver, while on Android, most of devices fail to do it. Ref: | > 1.8.1 KIVY\_BCM\_DISPMANX\_ID\ Change the default Raspberry Pi display to use. The list of available value is accessible in vc\_dispmanx\_types.h. Default value is 0: * 0: DISPMANX\_ID\_MAIN\_LCD * 1: DISPMANX\_ID\_AUX\_LCD * 2: DISPMANX\_ID\_HDMI * 3: DISPMANX\_ID\_SDTV * 4: DISPMANX\_ID\_FORCE\_LCD * 5: DISPMANX\_ID\_FORCE\_TV * 6: DISPMANX\_ID\_FORCE\_OTHER KIVY\_BCM\_DISPMANX\_LAYER\ Change the default Raspberry Pi dispmanx layer. Default value is 0. 1.10.1 --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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