Environment Variables

llmist uses environment variables for provider authentication and configuration.

Provider API Keys

Set these environment variables to enable provider auto-discovery:

# OpenAI
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

# Anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# Google Gemini
export GEMINI_API_KEY="..."

# OpenRouter (400+ models via unified gateway)
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-..."

# HuggingFace (free tier, serverless inference)
export HF_TOKEN="hf_..."

Tip

llmist automatically discovers and configures providers based on which API keys are set. No manual provider registration required.

Auto-Discovery Behavior

When you create an agent without specifying a provider, llmist:

1. Checks for API keys in environment variables
2. Registers providers with valid keys
3. Selects the appropriate provider based on model name

// Auto-discovers providers from environment
const agent = LLMist.createAgent()
  .withModel('sonnet');  // Uses Anthropic if ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set

Logging Configuration

| Variable | Description | Values | |----------|-------------|--------| | LLMIST_LOG_LEVEL | Logging verbosity | silly, trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal | | LLMIST_LOG_FILE | Write logs to a file instead of console | File path | | LLMIST_LOG_RESET | Truncate log file on startup | true, false | | LLMIST_LOG_TEE | Also write to stdout when file logging is active | true, false |

Example Logging Setup

# Enable debug logging
export LLMIST_LOG_LEVEL="debug"

# Log to file AND stdout (useful for Docker/containers)
export LLMIST_LOG_FILE="/tmp/agent.log"
export LLMIST_LOG_TEE="true"

Note

Each CLI session automatically creates a log directory at ~/.llmist/logs/<session-name>/ with a memorable name like sunny-falcon. Numbers are only appended when there's a name collision (e.g., sunny-falcon-2). Logs are stored in session.log.jsonl within that directory.

CLI-Specific Flags

These can also be set via command-line flags:

| Flag | Environment Variable | Description | |------|---------------------|-------------| | --log-level | LLMIST_LOG_LEVEL | Set log level |

    # Via flag
    npx @llmist/cli agent "Hello" --log-level debug

    # Via environment
    LLMIST_LOG_LEVEL=debug npx @llmist/cli agent "Hello"

Provider-Specific Variables

OpenAI

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | OPENAI_API_KEY | API key (required) | | OPENAI_ORG_ID | Organization ID (optional) | | OPENAI_BASE_URL | Custom API endpoint (optional) |

Anthropic

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | API key (required) | | ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL | Custom API endpoint (optional) |

Google Gemini

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | GEMINI_API_KEY | API key (required) |

OpenRouter

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | OPENROUTER_API_KEY | API key (required) | | OPENROUTER_SITE_URL | Your app URL for analytics (optional) | | OPENROUTER_APP_NAME | Your app name for analytics (optional) |

HuggingFace

Access thousands of open-source models via HuggingFace's serverless inference router.

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | HF_TOKEN | HuggingFace access token (primary, required) | | HUGGING_FACE_API_KEY | Fallback token if HF_TOKEN is not set (optional) | | HF_ENDPOINT_URL | Custom inference endpoint URL (optional, for dedicated endpoints) |

# Standard serverless inference (router.huggingface.co)
export HF_TOKEN="hf_..."

# Dedicated endpoint (overrides the default router URL)
export HF_TOKEN="hf_..."
export HF_ENDPOINT_URL="https://xxx.endpoints.huggingface.cloud"

Tip

Get a free HuggingFace token at huggingface.co/settings/tokens. The free tier provides access to thousands of open-source models including Llama, Mistral, Qwen, and DeepSeek via huggingface: or hf: prefix.

Best Practices

1. Never commit API keys - Use .env files or secret managers
2. Use different keys per environment - Separate dev/staging/production
3. Rotate keys regularly - Update keys periodically for security

Using .env Files

# .env (add to .gitignore!)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Load with your preferred method:

• Node.js: dotenv package
• Bun: Built-in .env support
• Shell: source .env or export $(cat .env | xargs)