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Environment Variables

Environment variables

Section titled “Environment variables”

CoderClaw pulls environment variables from multiple sources. The rule is never override existing values.

Precedence (highest → lowest)

Section titled “Precedence (highest → lowest)”
  1. Process environment (what the Gateway process already has from the parent shell/daemon).
  2. .env in the current working directory (dotenv default; does not override).
  3. Global .env at ~/.coderclaw/.env (aka $CODERCLAW_STATE_DIR/.env; does not override).
  4. Config env block in ~/.coderclaw/coderclaw.json (applied only if missing).
  5. Optional login-shell import (env.shellEnv.enabled or CODERCLAW_LOAD_SHELL_ENV=1), applied only for missing expected keys.

If the config file is missing entirely, step 4 is skipped; shell import still runs if enabled.

Config env block

Section titled “Config env block”

Two equivalent ways to set inline env vars (both are non-overriding):

{
  env: {
    OPENROUTER_API_KEY: "sk-or-...",
    vars: {
      GROQ_API_KEY: "gsk-...",
    },
  },
}

Shell env import

Section titled “Shell env import”

env.shellEnv runs your login shell and imports only missing expected keys:

{
  env: {
    shellEnv: {
      enabled: true,
      timeoutMs: 15000,
    },
  },
}

Env var equivalents:

  • CODERCLAW_LOAD_SHELL_ENV=1
  • CODERCLAW_SHELL_ENV_TIMEOUT_MS=15000

Env var substitution in config

Section titled “Env var substitution in config”

You can reference env vars directly in config string values using ${VAR_NAME} syntax:

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      "vercel-gateway": {
        apiKey: "${VERCEL_GATEWAY_API_KEY}",
      },
    },
  },
}

See Configuration: Env var substitution for full details.

Section titled “Path-related env vars”
VariablePurpose
CODERCLAW_HOMEOverride the home directory used for all internal path resolution (~/.coderclaw/, agent dirs, sessions, credentials). Useful when running CoderClaw as a dedicated service user.
CODERCLAW_STATE_DIROverride the state directory (default ~/.coderclaw).
CODERCLAW_CONFIG_PATHOverride the config file path (default ~/.coderclaw/coderclaw.json).

CODERCLAW_HOME

Section titled “CODERCLAW_HOME”

When set, CODERCLAW_HOME replaces the system home directory ($HOME / os.homedir()) for all internal path resolution. This enables full filesystem isolation for headless service accounts.

Precedence: CODERCLAW_HOME > $HOME > USERPROFILE > os.homedir()

Example (macOS LaunchDaemon):

<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
  <key>CODERCLAW_HOME</key>
  <string>/Users/kira</string>
</dict>

CODERCLAW_HOME can also be set to a tilde path (e.g. ~/svc), which gets expanded using $HOME before use.

Section titled “Related”