> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://bolt-builder-bolt-cli-5b0aab46-mintlify-541a0110.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Bolt environment variable reference

> Every environment variable recognized by Bolt, including log control, server auth, config overrides, and provider API key conventions.

Environment variables let you configure Bolt without touching any config files — useful in CI pipelines, Docker containers, and shared environments where you cannot commit credentials. They are read once at startup and cannot be changed while Bolt is running.

## Reference

| Variable               | Description                                                                                                                                             |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `BOLT_LOG_LEVEL`       | Set the log verbosity. Accepted values: `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`. Equivalent to the `--log-level` flag.                                         |
| `BOLT_PRINT_LOGS`      | Set to any non-empty value to print log output to stderr. Equivalent to `--print-logs`.                                                                 |
| `BOLT_PURE`            | Set to any non-empty value to disable all external plugins. Equivalent to `--pure`.                                                                     |
| `BOLT_SERVER_USERNAME` | Basic auth username for `bolt serve` and `bolt web`.                                                                                                    |
| `BOLT_SERVER_PASSWORD` | Basic auth password for `bolt serve` and `bolt web`. All connecting clients must provide this password.                                                 |
| `BOLT_CONFIG`          | Override the path to the config file that Bolt loads. Bolt will not search the default locations when this is set.                                      |
| `BOLT_CONFIG_DIR`      | Override the config directory. Bolt will look for config files in this directory instead of the default OS config directory.                            |
| `BOLT_CONFIG_CONTENT`  | Provide the entire config as an inline JSON string. Useful in CI where writing files is impractical. Takes the highest precedence among config sources. |
| `BOLT_GIT_BASH_PATH`   | Path to Git Bash's `bin` directory on Windows, used to locate Unix utilities like `less`.                                                               |

## Provider API keys

Bolt discovers provider credentials from environment variables automatically — no `bolt providers login` step required. Each provider looks for a specific environment variable, and Bolt will use it if the variable is set, regardless of what is stored in `auth.json`.

<Tip>
  Set provider API keys in your shell profile (e.g. `~/.zshrc`, `~/.bashrc`) or in a `.env` file loaded by your shell. You can also reference them from the config file using the `${VAR_NAME}` syntax in a `provider.*.apiKey` field so that keys are never stored in plaintext.
</Tip>

Common provider variables:

| Variable                                      | Provider               |
| --------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`                           | Anthropic (Claude)     |
| `OPENAI_API_KEY`                              | OpenAI (GPT, o-series) |
| `GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY`                | Google (Gemini)        |
| `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`                          | OpenRouter             |
| `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` + `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` | Amazon Bedrock         |
| `AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY`                        | Azure OpenAI           |

Run `bolt models --verbose` to see which environment variable each configured provider expects.

## Usage examples

```bash theme={null}
# Enable debug logging for a single run
BOLT_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG bolt run "why is the auth test failing?"

# Run without any plugins to rule out plugin interference
BOLT_PURE=1 bolt

# Start a public server with basic auth
BOLT_SERVER_USERNAME=team BOLT_SERVER_PASSWORD=mysecret \
  bolt serve --hostname 0.0.0.0 --port 4096

# Provide config inline (useful in CI)
BOLT_CONFIG_CONTENT='{"model":"anthropic/claude-opus-4-5"}' \
  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-xxx \
  bolt run "generate a changelog for this release"
```