def METHOD_NAME(
    api_path: str = None,
    artifact_path: str = "",
    access_key: str = None,
    username: str = None,
    env_file: str = None,
    mock_functions: str = None,
):
    """set and test default config for: api path, artifact_path and project
    this function will try and read the configuration from the environment/api
    and merge it with the user provided project name, artifacts path or api path/access_key.
    it returns the configured artifacts path, this can be used to define sub paths.
    Note: the artifact path is an mlrun data uri (e.g. `s3://bucket/path`) and can not be used with file utils.
    example::
        from os import path
        project_name, artifact_path = set_environment()
        set_environment("http://localhost:8080", artifact_path="./")
        set_environment(env_file="mlrun.env")
        set_environment("<remote-service-url>", access_key="xyz", username="joe")
    :param api_path:       location/url of mlrun api service
    :param artifact_path:  path/url for storing experiment artifacts
    :param access_key:     set the remote cluster access key (V3IO_ACCESS_KEY)
    :param username:       name of the user to authenticate
    :param env_file:       path/url to .env file (holding MLRun config and other env vars), see: set_env_from_file()
    :param mock_functions: set to True to create local/mock functions instead of real containers,
                           set to "auto" to auto determine based on the presence of k8s/Nuclio
    :returns:
        default project name
        actual artifact path/url, can be used to create subpaths per task or group of artifacts
    """
    if env_file:
        set_env_from_file(env_file)
    # set before the dbpath (so it will re-connect with the new credentials)
    if access_key:
        environ["V3IO_ACCESS_KEY"] = access_key
    if username:
        environ["V3IO_USERNAME"] = username
    mlconf.dbpath = api_path or mlconf.dbpath
    if not mlconf.dbpath:
        raise ValueError("DB/API path was not detected, please specify its address")
    if mock_functions is not None:
        mock_functions = "1" if mock_functions is True else mock_functions
        mlconf.force_run_local = mock_functions
        mlconf.mock_nuclio_deployment = mock_functions
    # check connectivity and load remote defaults
    get_run_db()
    if api_path:
        environ["MLRUN_DBPATH"] = mlconf.dbpath
    if not mlconf.artifact_path and not artifact_path:
        raise ValueError(
            "default artifact_path was not configured, please specify a valid artifact_path"
        )
    if artifact_path:
        if artifact_path.startswith("./"):
            artifact_path = path.abspath(artifact_path)
        elif not artifact_path.startswith("/") and "://" not in artifact_path:
            raise ValueError(
                "artifact_path must refer to an absolute path" " or a valid url"
            )
        mlconf.artifact_path = artifact_path
    return mlconf.default_project, mlconf.artifact_path