diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c367416..7cf0dec 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,4 +5,3 @@ log.html
 output.xml
 pip-selfcheck.json
 report.html
-variables.py
diff --git a/variables.py b/variables.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1aa1bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/variables.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Base Metadata Query server URL
+BASE_URL = "http://mdq.incommon.org"
+
+# Any known existing entityID
+ENTITY_ID = "https://fm.incommon.org/sp"
+
+# Percent-encoded form of ENTITY_ID above
+ENTITY_ID_ENCODED = "https:%2F%2Ffm.incommon.org%2Fsp"
+
+# Percent-encoded form of ENTITY_ID above using uppercase percent-encoding
+ENTITY_ID_ENCODED_UPPERCASE = "https:%2F%2Ffm.incommon.org%2Fsp"
+
+# Percent-encoded form of ENTITY_ID above using lowercase percent-encoding
+ENTITY_ID_ENCODED_LOWERCASE = "https:%2f%2ffm.incommon.org%2fsp"
+
+# SHA-1 transformed form of ENTITY_ID above
+ENTITY_ID_SHA1 = "20f0fe93f679ac8a2ddcf0822ecdec007c56546f"
+
+# InCommon URL-style entityID
+INC_ENTITY_ID_URL = "https://fm.incommon.org/sp"
+
+# Percent-encoded form of INC_ENTITY_ID_URL above
+INC_ENTITY_ID_URL_ENCODED = "https:%2F%2Ffm.incommon.org%2Fsp"
+
+# InCommon URN-style entityID
+INC_ENTITY_ID_URN = "urn:mace:incommon:internet2.edu"
+
+# InCommon collection of all IdPs
+INC_ALL_IDPS = "idps/all"