I am deploying a Python Flask application on Railway, connected via GitHub. My application requires custom environment variables (specifically ACCESTOKEN and MONGO_URI) to function correctly. I have configured these variables in the "Variables" tab of my service dashboard.

However, my application is unable to access these variables using os.getenv(). My debugging logs from os.environ.items() show that only Railway's internal variables are present in the environment; my custom variables are completely absent. Furthermore, the "Details" tab for my service's deployment also explicitly states "0 Variables" despite my configurations.

This issue is causing critical failures in my application:

Webhook verification (Meta/WhatsApp): the application fails to verify when it attempts to fetch ACCESTOKEN from os.getenv(), as the variable is None.

MongoDB Connection: My application is failing to connect to MongoDB Atlas because the MONGO_URI variable is not loaded, resulting in ERROR_DB_CONNECT: MONGO_URI no se cargó in the logs. This leads to subsequent errors like cAdmins no está inicializada and cResponses no está inicializada.

Application Timeouts: The lack of environment variables causes the application to hang or fail, leading to HTTP Status 499 (client closed request before server response) and WORKER TIMEOUT errors, as the application cannot complete its operations within the expected timeframes.

Steps I have already taken to troubleshoot:

Verified variable names and values: Confirmed ACCESTOKEN and MONGO_URI are spelled correctly in Railway's "Variables" tab and in my code. No extra spaces or quotes.

Confirmed os.getenv() usage: My code correctly uses os.getenv() to retrieve these variables.

Checked python-dotenv: load_dotenv() is commented out in my production code, as it's not needed for Railway's injected variables.

Forced Redeploy/Rebuild: Performed multiple forced redeploys and "Clear build cache" operations on my Railway service.

Hardcoded Variables (for testing):

Temporarily hardcoded ACCESTOKEN directly into app.py. The Meta webhook verification succeeded immediately, proving the URL and logic were otherwise correct. This strongly indicates the issue is with variable injection, not my Flask app's routing or Meta's endpoint.

Temporarily hardcoded MONGO_URI directly into dbManager.py. However, the WORKER TIMEOUT and 499 errors persisted, with ERROR_DB_CONNECT indicating the database connection was still the bottleneck. This implies that even with a direct URI, the underlying connection to MongoDB might be slow or failing, which is exacerbated by the MONGO_URI not being loaded from environment variables in the first place.

Printed os.environ.items(): Added a debug print to app.py at startup to list all environment variables visible to the Python process. The output clearly shows ACCESTOKEN and MONGO_URI are not present in the environment.

Railway Details Tab: The "Details" tab for my service deployment consistently shows "0 Variables" despite variables being configured in the "Variables" tab.

Raw Editor Check: I found that the "Raw Editor" for my service's variables contained references like "${{shared.ACCESTOKEN}}". I have since removed these references or replaced them with direct values in the Raw Editor, or ensured the variables are only set in the simple key-value format in the "Variables" tab. (Specify what you actually did here).