--- a
+++ b/src/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import ast
+import configparser
+from collections.abc import Mapping
+from os import getenv
+
+
+def parse_values(config):
+    config_parsed = {}
+    for section in config.sections():
+        config_parsed[section] = {}
+        for key, value in config[section].items():
+            config_parsed[section][key] = ast.literal_eval(value)
+    return config_parsed
+
+
+class Settings(Mapping):
+    def __init__(self, setting_file=getenv('COMPNET_CONFIG')):
+
+        if not setting_file:
+            raise EnvironmentError('environment variable COMPNET_CONFIG is not defined, see docs/README.md for details')
+
+        config = configparser.ConfigParser()
+        config.read(setting_file)
+        self.settings_dict = parse_values(config)
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        return self.settings_dict[key]
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(self.settings_dict)
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self.settings_dict.items()
+    
\ No newline at end of file