import requests data = {'foo':'bar'} url = 'https://foo.com/bar' r = requests.post(url, data=data) If the URL uses a self signed certificate, this fails with requests.exceptions.SSLError: [Errno 1] _ssl.c:507: error:14090086:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE:certificate verify failed I know that I can pass False to the verify parameter, like this: r = requests.post(url, data=data, verify=False) However, what I would like to do is point requests to a copy of the public key on disk and tell it to trust that certificate. Continue reading...