diff --git a/ols/utils/environments.py b/ols/utils/environments.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..79f3f3c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ols/utils/environments.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+"""Environment variables handling."""
+
+import os
+import tempfile
+
+
+def configure_gradio_ui_envs() -> None:
+    """Configure GradioUI framework environment variables."""
+    # disable Gradio analytics, which calls home to https://api.gradio.app
+    os.environ["GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED"] = "false"
+
+    # Setup config directory for Matplotlib. It will be used to store info
+    # about fonts (usually one JSON file) and it really is just temporary
+    # storage that can be deleted at any time and recreated later.
+    # Fixes: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/OLS-301
+    tempdir = os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), "matplotlib")
+    os.environ["MPLCONFIGDIR"] = tempdir
diff --git a/runner.py b/runner.py
index fd56bf97..032e645e 100644
--- a/runner.py
+++ b/runner.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 import logging
 import os
-import tempfile
 import threading
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -12,6 +11,7 @@
 from ols.src.auth.auth import use_k8s_auth
 from ols.utils import ssl
 from ols.utils.certificates import generate_certificates_file
+from ols.utils.environments import configure_gradio_ui_envs
 from ols.utils.logging_configurator import configure_logging
 
 
@@ -29,19 +29,6 @@ def configure_hugging_face_envs(ols_config: config_model.OLSConfig) -> None:
         os.environ["TRANSFORMERS_OFFLINE"] = "1"
 
 
-def configure_gradio_ui_envs() -> None:
-    """Configure GradioUI framework environment variables."""
-    # disable Gradio analytics, which calls home to https://api.gradio.app
-    os.environ["GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED"] = "false"
-
-    # Setup config directory for Matplotlib. It will be used to store info
-    # about fonts (usually one JSON file) and it really is just temporary
-    # storage that can be deleted at any time and recreated later.
-    # Fixes: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/OLS-301
-    tempdir = os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), "matplotlib")
-    os.environ["MPLCONFIGDIR"] = tempdir
-
-
 def load_index():
     """Load the index."""
     # accessing the config's rag_index property will trigger the loading
diff --git a/tests/unit/utils/test_environments.py b/tests/unit/utils/test_environments.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..357b36a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/utils/test_environments.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+"""Unit tests for functions defined in environments.py."""
+
+import os
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from ols.utils.environments import configure_gradio_ui_envs
+
+
+@patch.dict(os.environ, {"GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED": "", "MPLCONFIGDIR": ""})
+def test_configure_gradio_ui_envs():
+    """Test the function configure_gradio_ui_envs."""
+    # setup before tested function is called
+    assert os.environ.get("GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED", None) == ""
+    assert os.environ.get("MPLCONFIGDIR", None) == ""
+
+    # call the tested function
+    configure_gradio_ui_envs()
+
+    # expected environment variables
+    assert os.environ.get("GRADIO_ANALYTICS_ENABLED", None) == "false"
+    assert os.environ.get("MPLCONFIGDIR", None) != ""