Environment variables

Environment Settings

You can write credentials into the environment to skip --key.

API key

BBM_API_KEY covers every format, so one variable is usually enough:

export BBM_API_KEY=${your_api_key}

If it is not set, each format also looks at the variable people already export for that vendor:

--api_format	Fallback variables
openai	OPENAI_API_KEY, BBM_OPENAI_API_KEY
anthropic	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, BBM_CLAUDE_API_KEY
gemini	BBM_GOOGLE_GEMINI_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY
qwen	BBM_QWEN_API_KEY, DASHSCOPE_API_KEY
groq	BBM_GROQ_API_KEY, GROQ_API_KEY
xai	BBM_XAI_API_KEY, XAI_API_KEY
litellm	BBM_LITELLM_API_KEY, LITELLM_MASTER_KEY
caiyun	BBM_CAIYUN_API_KEY
deepl	BBM_DEEPL_API_KEY

google, deeplfree, tencent and customapi need no key, and neither does an endpoint on localhost — a LiteLLM proxy there included, which is where --api_format litellm points unless --api_base says otherwise.

The CLI does not read .env files. Export the variables first, or source a git-ignored file before running: set -a; source .env; set +a; bbook_maker ...

A provider's own variable

--provider NAME reads the endpoint from bbm_providers.json in the working directory, else ~/.bbm/providers.json. When that entry has an env_key, the named variable is consulted for the key ahead of BBM_API_KEY and the fallbacks above — it names the endpoint being called, so its own key is the right one. It is consulted only while the run still calls that endpoint: an --api_base elsewhere, or an --api_format override on an entry that names no base_url, moves the request to another host, and the entry's key is not sent there. The run says so; pass --key when you meant to reuse it. The file holds the address and the variable name, never a secret. See Endpoints, models and languages. --model orcarouter reads BBM_ORCAROUTER_API_KEY the same way.

Classifier variables

A Jev-compatible classifier reads its key only for its own host:

variable	read for
JEV_API_KEY, TYPESAFE_API_KEY	TypeSafe's Jev at a typesafe.ai address
CF_AIG_TOKEN	an authenticated Cloudflare AI Gateway at gateway.ai.cloudflare.com

Through a gateway, name the key with --classify-key or a provider entry's classify_env_key.

BBM_JEV_MIN_CONFIDENCE, a number from 0 to 1, sets Jev's gate for a run without --classify-min-confidence (the flag wins): a skip below it is translated. The default is 0.95. A value that is not a number from 0 to 1 stops the run.

Old per-vendor variables

The four vendor variables above are also read when an old-style command implies that route — --model gemini consults BBM_GOOGLE_GEMINI_KEY even though the rewritten command names the format (see Migrating from the old flags). What they are never consulted for is a command whose --api_base names some other endpoint: there the key must match the address, and only BBM_API_KEY and the format's own variables apply.

Prompt overrides

export BBM_CHATGPTAPI_USER_MSG_TEMPLATE=${your_prompt_template}
export BBM_CHATGPTAPI_SYS_MSG=${your_system_message}