---
title: "Environment Variables"
description: "All environment variables recognized by agent-code"
---
## API Configuration
| Variable | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `AGENT_CODE_API_KEY` | API key (highest priority, works with any provider) |
| `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` | Anthropic API key (auto-selects Anthropic provider) |
| `OPENAI_API_KEY` | OpenAI API key (auto-selects OpenAI provider) |
| `AGENT_CODE_API_BASE_URL` | API endpoint URL override |
| `AGENT_CODE_MODEL` | Model name override |
## Behavior
| Variable | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `EDITOR` | Determines REPL editing mode (`vi` if contains "vi", else emacs) |
| `SHELL` | Reported in the system prompt environment section |
## Resolution order
API key is resolved from the first available:
1. `--api-key` CLI flag
2. Config file (`api.api_key`)
3. `AGENT_CODE_API_KEY` env var
4. `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` env var
5. `OPENAI_API_KEY` env var
Base URL auto-detection:
- If only `OPENAI_API_KEY` is set → defaults to `https://api.openai.com/v1`
- Otherwise → defaults to `https://api.anthropic.com/v1`
This can always be overridden with `--api-base-url` or the config file.