Environment Variables

Environment variables

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

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 ~/.openaeon/.env (aka $OPENAEON_STATE_DIR/.env; does not override).
4. Config env block in ~/.openaeon/openaeon.json (applied only if missing).
5. Optional login-shell import (env.shellEnv.enabled or OPENAEON_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

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

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

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

Env var equivalents:

• OPENAEON_LOAD_SHELL_ENV=1
• OPENAEON_SHELL_ENV_TIMEOUT_MS=15000

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.

Secret refs vs ${ENV} strings

OpenAEON supports two env-driven patterns:

• ${VAR} string substitution in config values.
• SecretRef objects ({ source: "env", provider: "default", id: "VAR" }) for fields that support secrets references.

Both resolve from process env at activation time. SecretRef details are documented in Secrets Management.

Path-related env vars

Variable	Purpose
OPENAEON_HOME	Override the home directory used for all internal path resolution (~/.openaeon/, agent dirs, sessions, credentials). Useful when running OpenAEON as a dedicated service user.
OPENAEON_STATE_DIR	Override the state directory (default ~/.openaeon).
OPENAEON_CONFIG_PATH	Override the config file path (default ~/.openaeon/openaeon.json).

Logging

Variable	Purpose
OPENAEON_LOG_LEVEL	Override log level for both file and console (e.g. debug, trace). Takes precedence over logging.level and logging.consoleLevel in config. Invalid values are ignored with a warning.

OPENAEON_HOME

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

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

Example (macOS LaunchDaemon):

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

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

Related

• Gateway configuration
• FAQ: env vars and .env loading
• Models overview