Environment variables

Every environment variable the Promptless CLI reads, in one place. Variables are listed alphabetically. For how the config file interacts with these, see Configuration.

Summary

Variable	Purpose	Default	Read by
`PROMPTLESS_API_BASE_URL`	Base URL of the Promptless API	`https://api.gopromptless.ai`	every authenticated command
`PROMPTLESS_APP_BASE_URL`	Base URL of the Promptless web app	`https://app.gopromptless.ai`	`login`
`PROMPTLESS_CLI_API_SECRET`	Long-lived API key (bearer token)	“ (read from config file)	every authenticated command
`PROMPTLESS_CLI_DEVELOPER_CONFIG_FILE`	Override the config file path	“ (falls through to XDG, then `~/.config`)	`login`, `logout`, `whoami`
`XDG_CONFIG_HOME`	XDG base directory for the config file	“ (falls through to `~/.config`)	`login`, `logout`, `whoami`

`PROMPTLESS_API_BASE_URL`

Base URL the CLI sends API requests to. Used by every command that needs to present a bearer token, including the whoami verification step that runs at the end of login.

Default: https://api.gopromptless.ai
Format: any HTTP/HTTPS URL. Trailing slashes are stripped.
Typical use: pointing the CLI at a staging API or a local dev server.

export PROMPTLESS_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080
promptless whoami

`PROMPTLESS_APP_BASE_URL`

Base URL of the Promptless web app. Used by promptless login to build the …/cli/auth?public_key=&key_type=&redirect_uri=&state= URL opened in the browser, and to enforce the CORS allow-list on the local callback server — only requests whose Origin matches this URL are accepted.

Default: https://app.gopromptless.ai
Format: any HTTP/HTTPS URL. Trailing slashes are stripped.
Typical use: pointing login at a staging deploy of the web app, or at the local Next.js dev server.

export PROMPTLESS_APP_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
promptless login

In practice you usually set PROMPTLESS_APP_BASE_URL and PROMPTLESS_API_BASE_URL together — staging environments expose both.

`PROMPTLESS_CLI_API_SECRET`

The long-lived API key the CLI uses as a bearer token. Resolution order:

This env var, if set and non-empty.
The PROMPTLESS_CLI_API_SECRET= line in the config file.

promptless login writes this value to the config file on success. promptless logout removes the line from the config file (it does not unset the env var in your current shell — see the note in Configuration).

Default: unset; the CLI falls back to the config file.
Format: the opaque token issued by the backend (currently prefixed plk_).
Typical use: running a single command as a different user without overwriting the cached identity:

PROMPTLESS_CLI_API_SECRET=plk_some_other_key promptless whoami

Keep this value out of shell history (use a leading space if your shell honors HISTCONTROL=ignorespace) and out of source control. Anyone with the token can act as you against the Promptless API until it’s revoked.

`PROMPTLESS_CLI_DEVELOPER_CONFIG_FILE`

Overrides the location of the config file. When set to a non-empty value, its literal value is used as the path — $XDG_CONFIG_HOME and ~/.config/promptless/env are ignored.

Default: unset; the CLI falls through to XDG, then ~/.config.
Format: an absolute or relative filesystem path.
Typical use: isolating tests, or running multiple Promptless identities side by side from different shells.

export PROMPTLESS_CLI_DEVELOPER_CONFIG_FILE=/tmp/promptless-staging.env
promptless login   # writes to /tmp/promptless-staging.env

The CLI creates the parent directory if it doesn’t already exist (with mode 0700), so it’s fine to point this at a path under /tmp or any other writable location — no need to mkdir first.

`XDG_CONFIG_HOME`

Standard XDG base directory for user-specific configuration. The CLI honors this only when PROMPTLESS_CLI_DEVELOPER_CONFIG_FILE is not set.

Default: unset; the CLI falls through to ~/.config/promptless/env.
Format: an absolute path to an existing or createable directory.
Resolved file: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/promptless/env.

export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=$HOME/.dotfiles/config
promptless login   # writes to $HOME/.dotfiles/config/promptless/env

The XDG spec says clients should fall back to ~/.config when the variable is unset or empty, and that is exactly what the CLI does.

Variables the CLI does not read

For completeness, a few variables you might expect the CLI to honor but it does not:

NO_COLOR / FORCE_COLOR — promptless does not emit color from the auth commands. (promptless slop-cop has its own --color / --no-color flags.)
HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY — the CLI uses Node’s built-in fetch, which does not consult proxy env vars by default. If you need to route through a proxy, set up the proxy at the OS level or open an issue.
PROMPTLESS_DEBUG / DEBUG — there is no debug logging at present.