Environment variables

Pythinker Code CLI uses environment variables to control a small number of runtime behaviors — relocating the data directory, turning off telemetry, and temporarily switching models without touching the config file.

Important: API keys are explicitly referenced

Credential variables such as PYTHINKER_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, and OPENAI_API_KEY are not guessed automatically. A provider reads a shell credential only when [providers.<name>].api_key_env_var names it. Catalog import writes this reference for supported providers without writing the token itself.

The PYTHINKER_MODEL_* family remains a separate explicit channel that synthesizes a temporary provider — see Define a model from environment variables.

For background, see Config overrides: provider credentials.

Core paths

PYTHINKER_CODE_HOME

Overrides the data root directory; the default is ~/.pythinker-code. Once set, the config file, sessions, logs, credentials, and all other data land under the new path:

export PYTHINKER_CODE_HOME="/path/to/custom/pythinker-code"

Make sure the directory is writable. Multiple pythinker instances sharing the same PYTHINKER_CODE_HOME will share config and credential files.

For the complete data directory structure, see Data locations.

PYTHINKER_DISABLE_TELEMETRY

Set to 1 to turn off anonymous telemetry reporting (also accepts true, yes, y, case-insensitive):

export PYTHINKER_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1

PYTHINKER_MODEL_* family

Switch models temporarily without modifying config.toml — when PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME is set, the CLI synthesizes a temporary provider in memory; the change does not persist after restart. See Define a model from environment variables.

Provider credential environment references

Use api_key_env_var when the secret should remain in the process environment:

[providers.anthropic]
type = "anthropic"
api_key_env_var = "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
pythinker

The legacy [providers.<name>.env] sub-table remains a literal config-file fallback for api_key and base_url; it does not read or modify the shell environment:

[providers.pythinker.env]
PYTHINKER_API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
PYTHINKER_BASE_URL = "https://api.example.com/v1"

Provider-conventional config-subtable keys:

Key	Applicable provider	Default
PYTHINKER_API_KEY	Pythinker / Pythoughts	None
PYTHINKER_BASE_URL	Pythinker / Pythoughts	https://api.pythoughts.ai/v1
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic	None
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL	Anthropic	Follows Anthropic SDK default
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI (openai and openai_responses)	None
OPENAI_BASE_URL	OpenAI (openai and openai_responses)	https://api.openai.com/v1
GOOGLE_API_KEY	Google GenAI, Vertex AI	None
VERTEXAI_API_KEY	Vertex AI	None
GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT	Vertex AI	None
GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION	Vertex AI	None

Catalog entries can declare other credential names and persist them through api_key_env_var. The featured connections currently declare:

Catalog provider	Credential variable
DeepSeek (deepseek)	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
GLM Coding Plan (zai-coding-plan)	ZHIPU_API_KEY
MiniMax Token Plan (minimax-coding-plan)	MINIMAX_API_KEY
Kimi For Coding (kimi-for-coding)	KIMI_API_KEY

WARNING

GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS (path to a service account JSON file) is read directly by the Google SDK through the standard ADC flow; api_key_env_var is not involved in that path.

For the full provider type and field reference, see Providers and models.

Define a model from environment variables (PYTHINKER_MODEL_*)

Want to switch models for testing without touching config.toml? When PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME is set, the CLI synthesizes a temporary provider and model alias from the PYTHINKER_MODEL_* variables in memory — nothing is written back to the config file. These variables take priority over default_model in config.toml, but the -m <alias> option at startup still has the highest priority.

export PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME="pythinker-for-coding"
export PYTHINKER_MODEL_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
export PYTHINKER_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://api.example.com/v1"
export PYTHINKER_MODEL_MAX_CONTEXT_SIZE="262144"
export PYTHINKER_MODEL_CAPABILITIES="image_in,thinking"
pythinker

Complete variable list:

Variable	Required	Purpose	Default
PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME	Yes (also the enable switch)	Model id sent to the API	—
PYTHINKER_MODEL_API_KEY	Yes	API key	—
PYTHINKER_MODEL_PROVIDER_TYPE	No	Provider type: pythinker, anthropic, openai	pythinker
PYTHINKER_MODEL_BASE_URL	No	API base URL	Each type has its own default
PYTHINKER_MODEL_MAX_CONTEXT_SIZE	No	Maximum context length (tokens)	262144 (256 K)
PYTHINKER_MODEL_CAPABILITIES	No	Comma-separated capability tags, unioned with auto-detected capabilities	image_in,thinking
PYTHINKER_MODEL_DISPLAY_NAME	No	Name shown in /model	Falls back to PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME
PYTHINKER_MODEL_MAX_OUTPUT_SIZE	No	Per-request output cap (anthropic only)	Model default
PYTHINKER_MODEL_REASONING_KEY	No	Reasoning field name override (openai only)	Auto-detected
PYTHINKER_MODEL_DEFAULT_THINKING	No	Default Thinking toggle for new sessions	Follows global default
PYTHINKER_MODEL_THINKING_MODE	No	Thinking trigger policy: auto/on/off	—
PYTHINKER_MODEL_THINKING_EFFORT	No	Thinking effort level: low/medium/high/xhigh/max	—
PYTHINKER_MODEL_ADAPTIVE_THINKING	No	Force adaptive thinking on or off (anthropic only)	Inferred from model name

If PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME is set but a required variable is missing, startup fails immediately with a clear error message.

Runtime switches

Switches that control the behavior of subsystems such as telemetry, background tasks, and the plugin marketplace:

Variable	Purpose	Valid values
PYTHINKER_DISABLE_TELEMETRY	Disable anonymous telemetry reporting	1, true, yes, y (case-insensitive)
PYTHINKER_CODE_BACKGROUND_KEEP_ALIVE_ON_EXIT	Whether to keep background tasks when the session closes; takes higher priority than config.toml. The default is to stop them on exit	Truthy: 1/true/yes/on; falsy: 0/false/no/off
PYTHINKER_CODE_PLUGIN_MARKETPLACE_URL	Override the plugin marketplace JSON loaded by /plugins	URL or local path
PYTHINKER_CODE_DISABLE_WORKFLOWS	Disable Dynamic Workflow: the DynamicWorkflow tool is not registered and /workflow is hidden; takes higher priority than config.toml	Truthy: 1/true/yes/on; falsy: 0/false/no/off
PYTHINKER_CODE_WORKFLOW_SIZE_GUIDELINE	Override the advisory Dynamic Workflow size guideline injected into the tool guidance; takes higher priority than config.toml	small, medium, large, unrestricted
PYTHINKER_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_FLAG	Enable all registered experimental features for this process; micro_compaction is already enabled by default	1, true, yes, on
PYTHINKER_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_MICRO_COMPACTION	Override [experimental].micro_compaction for this process	Truthy or falsy
PYTHINKER_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_TOOL_INTENT	Override [experimental].tool_intent for this process. When on (the default), eligible tool calls whose input schema accepts the injected field carry a short model-written intent that the working indicator shows live; set a falsy value to turn it off	Truthy or falsy
PYTHINKER_SHELL_PATH	Override the Git Bash path on Windows (used when auto-detection fails)	Absolute path
PYTHINKER_MODEL_MAX_COMPLETION_TOKENS	Hard cap on max_completion_tokens per LLM step; applies to the pythinker provider only	Positive integer; 0 or negative disables clamping
PYTHINKER_MODEL_TEMPERATURE	Sampling temperature for every request; applies to the pythinker provider only (global — independent of PYTHINKER_MODEL_NAME)	Number, e.g. 0.3
PYTHINKER_MODEL_TOP_P	Nucleus-sampling top_p for every request; applies to the pythinker provider only (global)	Number, e.g. 0.95
PYTHINKER_MODEL_THINKING_KEEP	Pythoughts preserved-thinking passthrough (thinking.keep); applies to the pythinker provider only, and only while Thinking is on	A value the API accepts, e.g. all
PYTHINKER_CODE_NO_AUTO_UPDATE	Disable automatic update checks, background preparation or installation, restart activation, and prompts. An explicit /update request is still completed; the legacy alias PYTHINKER_CLI_NO_AUTO_UPDATE is also honored	Truthy: 1/true/yes/on
PYTHINKER_DISABLE_CRON	Disable the scheduled-task tool (CronCreate rejects new schedules; existing tasks do not fire)	1 to disable

Diagnostic logs

These variables control log level and file rotation, read once at process startup:

Variable	Purpose	Default
PYTHINKER_LOG_LEVEL	Log level: off, error, warn, info, debug	info
PYTHINKER_LOG_GLOBAL_MAX_BYTES	Maximum bytes per global log file	6291456 (6 MB)
PYTHINKER_LOG_GLOBAL_FILES	Number of global log files to retain	5
PYTHINKER_LOG_SESSION_MAX_BYTES	Maximum bytes per session log file	5242880 (5 MB)
PYTHINKER_LOG_SESSION_FILES	Number of session log files to retain	3

System environment variables

The CLI also reads several standard system variables to detect the runtime environment; it does not modify them:

• HOME: used to resolve the default data path
• VISUAL, EDITOR: external editor command (VISUAL takes precedence)
• PATH: used to locate dependencies such as rg, fd, fdfind, and git; on Windows, Git Bash detection checks each git.exe found on PATH, including package-manager shims such as Scoop
• NO_COLOR, FORCE_COLOR: control color output (following the no-color.org convention)
• CI: when non-empty and not "0", disables theme detection and falls back to the dark theme
• TERM_PROGRAM, TERM, TMUX: detect terminal features and notification support
• DISPLAY, WAYLAND_DISPLAY, XDG_SESSION_TYPE: detect Linux graphical sessions (for clipboard and image features)
• WSL_DISTRO_NAME, WSLENV: detect WSL for the clipboard PowerShell bridge
• LOCALAPPDATA: used on Windows as a fallback when probing for the Git Bash installation path

HTTP proxy

Pythinker Code honors the standard proxy environment variables for all outbound traffic — model API calls, MCP servers, web tools, telemetry, sign-in, and update checks:

• HTTP_PROXY / http_proxy: proxy for http:// requests
• HTTPS_PROXY / https_proxy: proxy for https:// requests
• ALL_PROXY / all_proxy: fallback proxy used when the scheme-specific variable is unset; this is where a SOCKS proxy is usually set
• NO_PROXY / no_proxy: comma-separated hosts that bypass the proxy

Both HTTP(S) and SOCKS proxies are supported. A SOCKS proxy is recognized by its scheme — socks5://, socks5h://, socks4://, or socks:// (an alias for socks5://) — and is typically set via ALL_PROXY (the form used by tools like Clash and V2RayN). An HTTP(S) proxy takes precedence over ALL_PROXY for HTTP/HTTPS traffic.

The proxy is applied only when one of these variables is set; otherwise connections are made directly. Loopback hosts (localhost, 127.0.0.1, ::1) always bypass the proxy, so a local server such as a localhost MCP server keeps working when a proxy is configured — add your own internal hosts to NO_PROXY to exempt them too.

Stdio MCP servers that run as Node child processes honor HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY / NO_PROXY automatically when the child's Node version supports NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY (Node ≥ 22.21 or ≥ 24.5); SOCKS proxying applies to Pythinker Code's own traffic only.

Next steps

• Config overrides — how environment variables, CLI options, and the config file interact by priority
• Data locations — directory structure affected by PYTHINKER_CODE_HOME
• Providers and models — full connection examples per provider type