Environment variables

OpenUsage reads two kinds of environment variables: runtime overrides (debug, paths, sockets) and API key envs referenced from accounts[].api_key_env. Both are listed below.

Runtime overrides

Variable	Purpose
OPENUSAGE_DEBUG	When set to any non-empty value, enables verbose logging to stderr (theme loader, daemon connection, integration installer, hook plumbing).
OPENUSAGE_BIN	Override the binary path embedded in hook scripts. Useful when the binary lives at a non-standard location.
OPENUSAGE_TELEMETRY_SOCKET	Override the daemon Unix socket path. Equivalent to --socket-path, but inherited by every process (daemon, TUI, hooks).
OPENUSAGE_GITHUB_TOKEN	Token used for the in-app update check against GitHub. Optional; used to avoid anonymous rate limits.
OPENUSAGE_THEME_DIR	Colon-separated list (semicolon on Windows) of extra directories scanned for theme JSON files. See External themes.
OPENUSAGE_MOONSHOT_STATE_PATH	Override the path Moonshot's state file is read from.
XDG_CONFIG_HOME	Override the config base directory (default ~/.config).
XDG_STATE_HOME	Override the state base directory (default ~/.local/state).
CLAUDE_SETTINGS_FILE	Override the path to ~/.claude/settings.json. Used by the claude_code provider and integration.
CODEX_CONFIG_DIR	Override the path to ~/.codex/. Used by the codex provider and integration.

API key environment variables

Each provider's account references its key via api_key_env — the name of the variable, not its value. Below are the conventional names used in configs/example_settings.json. You may override these; just keep api_key_env in sync.

Provider	Default env var
OpenAI	OPENAI_API_KEY
Anthropic	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Groq	GROQ_API_KEY
Mistral	MISTRAL_API_KEY
DeepSeek	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
Moonshot	MOONSHOT_API_KEY
xAI	XAI_API_KEY
Z.AI	ZAI_API_KEY
Gemini API	GEMINI_API_KEY (also detects GOOGLE_API_KEY as an alias)
Alibaba Cloud	ALIBABA_CLOUD_API_KEY
Ollama (cloud)	OLLAMA_API_KEY

:::tip Adding a key without restarting The TUI reads env vars on startup. After exporting a new key, press q to quit and re-launch — or use the API Keys settings tab (, then 5) to enter the value at runtime, which writes it to your shell session for future processes only. :::

:::info GUI launches and shell rc files If OpenUsage is launched from Spotlight, the Dock, or another launcher that doesn't inherit your shell environment, it will still pick up keys exported in ~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc.d/*.zsh, fish config.fish, and similar files — the auto-detector parses them directly. Lines that contain shell substitutions ($VAR, $(...), backticks) are intentionally skipped. Run openusage detect to see exactly which file each adopted key came from. :::

CLI tool / local file providers

Some providers don't use API keys; they read local files or shell out to a tool binary. Their accounts entries use binary rather than api_key_env.

Provider	What it reads	Override
claude_code	~/.claude.json, ~/.claude/stats-cache.json, ~/.claude/projects/**/*.jsonl, ~/.claude/settings.json	CLAUDE_SETTINGS_FILE, plus binary field
codex	~/.codex/sessions/*.jsonl	CODEX_CONFIG_DIR, plus binary field
cursor	Local SQLite databases under ~/Library/Application Support/Cursor/ (or platform equivalent)	binary field
gemini_cli	Gemini CLI's session files	binary field (default gemini)
copilot	gh copilot subcommands	binary field (default gh)
ollama (local)	http://127.0.0.1:11434	base_url field
opencode	OpenCode session data	binary field

Setting variables

Persistent

# zsh / bash
echo 'export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...' >> ~/.zshrc

# fish
set -Ux OPENAI_API_KEY sk-...

Per-process

OPENUSAGE_DEBUG=1 OPENUSAGE_TELEMETRY_SOCKET=/tmp/ou.sock openusage telemetry daemon run

In a service unit

For the daemon, set env vars via the launchd plist's EnvironmentVariables dictionary (macOS) or the systemd unit's Environment= lines (Linux). Reinstall via openusage telemetry daemon install after changing the unit if you want fresh defaults.

See also

• CLI reference — flags equivalent to most env vars
• Paths reference — what each path-related variable controls
• Configuration reference — accounts[].api_key_env schema