kimi-code/docs/en/configuration/env-vars.md

Environment variables

Kimi Code CLI uses environment variables to control a small number of runtime behaviors — relocating the data directory, turning off telemetry, and temporarily switching models without touching the config file.

::: warning Important: API keys are not configured here Credential variables such as KIMI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, and OPENAI_API_KEY are not read automatically from shell environment variables. Running export KIMI_API_KEY=xxx in the terminal does not give any provider its key — they must be written in config.toml under [providers.<name>] or the [providers.<name>.env] sub-table.

The only exception is the KIMI_MODEL_* family, which is an explicit channel that does read credentials from the shell — see Define a model from environment variables.

For background, see Config overrides: provider credentials. :::

Core paths

KIMI_CODE_HOME

Overrides the data root directory; the default is ~/.kimi-code. Once set, the config file, sessions, logs, OAuth credentials, and all other data land under the new path:

export KIMI_CODE_HOME="/path/to/custom/kimi-code"

Make sure the directory is writable. Multiple kimi instances sharing the same KIMI_CODE_HOME will share config and credential files.

For the complete data directory structure, see Data locations.

KIMI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY

Set to 1 to turn off anonymous telemetry reporting (also accepts true, yes, y, case-insensitive):

export KIMI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1

KIMI_MODEL_* family

Switch models temporarily without modifying config.toml — when KIMI_MODEL_NAME is set, the CLI synthesizes a temporary provider in memory; the change does not persist after restart. See Define a model from environment variables.

Provider credential key names (written in config.toml)

The key names below are not read directly from the shell — they are key names written inside the [providers.<name>.env] sub-table of config.toml, serving as fallback values for api_key / base_url. The CLI reads only from the config file, not from process.env.

This design lets you keep familiar key name conventions while centralizing secret management in the config file:

[providers.kimi.env]
KIMI_API_KEY = "sk-xxx"
KIMI_BASE_URL = "https://api.moonshot.ai/v1"

Key names per provider:

Key	Applicable provider	Default
KIMI_API_KEY	Kimi / Moonshot	None
KIMI_BASE_URL	Kimi / Moonshot	https://api.moonshot.ai/v1
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic	None
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL	Anthropic	Follows Anthropic SDK default
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI (openai and openai_responses)	None
OPENAI_BASE_URL	OpenAI (openai and openai_responses)	https://api.openai.com/v1
GOOGLE_API_KEY	Google GenAI, Vertex AI	None
VERTEXAI_API_KEY	Vertex AI	None
GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT	Vertex AI	None
GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION	Vertex AI	None

::: warning GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS (path to a service account JSON file) is the only exception that goes through the system environment variable mechanism — it is read by the Google SDK directly via the standard ADC flow, and the CLI does not participate. All other key names must be placed in the [providers.<name>.env] sub-table to take effect. :::

For the full provider type and field reference, see Providers and models.

OAuth and managed services

This group of variables redirects OAuth authentication and managed service endpoints to a self-hosted or test environment. They are not needed for everyday use.

Variable	Purpose	Default
KIMI_CODE_OAUTH_HOST	OAuth auth host; highest priority	Falls back to KIMI_OAUTH_HOST when unset
KIMI_OAUTH_HOST	OAuth auth host; fallback for KIMI_CODE_OAUTH_HOST	Falls back to https://auth.kimi.com when unset
KIMI_CODE_BASE_URL	Managed API base URL used after OAuth login	https://api.kimi.com/coding/v1

::: warning KIMI_CODE_BASE_URL (OAuth-managed service, targeting kimi.com) and KIMI_BASE_URL (direct API key connection, targeting moonshot.ai) are two distinct variables. Use each one in its appropriate context. :::

Define a model from environment variables (KIMI_MODEL_*)

Want to switch models for testing without touching config.toml? When KIMI_MODEL_NAME is set, the CLI synthesizes a temporary provider and model alias from the KIMI_MODEL_* variables in memory — nothing is written back to the config file. These variables take priority over default_model in config.toml, but the -m <alias> option at startup still has the highest priority.

export KIMI_MODEL_NAME="kimi-for-coding"
export KIMI_MODEL_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
export KIMI_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://api.example.com/v1"
export KIMI_MODEL_MAX_CONTEXT_SIZE="262144"
export KIMI_MODEL_CAPABILITIES="image_in,thinking"
kimi

Complete variable list:

Variable	Required	Purpose	Default
KIMI_MODEL_NAME	Yes (also the enable switch)	Model id sent to the API	—
KIMI_MODEL_API_KEY	Yes	API key	—
KIMI_MODEL_PROVIDER_TYPE	No	Provider type: kimi, anthropic, openai	kimi
KIMI_MODEL_BASE_URL	No	API base URL	Each type has its own default
KIMI_MODEL_MAX_CONTEXT_SIZE	No	Maximum context length (tokens)	262144 (256 K)
KIMI_MODEL_CAPABILITIES	No	Comma-separated capability tags, unioned with auto-detected capabilities	image_in,thinking
KIMI_MODEL_DISPLAY_NAME	No	Name shown in /model	Falls back to KIMI_MODEL_NAME
KIMI_MODEL_MAX_OUTPUT_SIZE	No	Per-request output cap (anthropic only)	Model default
KIMI_MODEL_REASONING_KEY	No	Reasoning field name override (openai only)	Auto-detected
KIMI_MODEL_DEFAULT_THINKING	No	Default Thinking toggle for new sessions	Follows global default
KIMI_MODEL_THINKING_MODE	No	Thinking trigger policy: auto/on/off	—
KIMI_MODEL_THINKING_EFFORT	No	Thinking effort level: low/medium/high/xhigh/max	—
KIMI_MODEL_ADAPTIVE_THINKING	No	Force adaptive thinking on or off (anthropic only)	Inferred from model name

If KIMI_MODEL_NAME is set but a required variable is missing, startup fails immediately with a clear error message.

Runtime switches

Switches that control the behavior of subsystems such as telemetry, background tasks, and the plugin marketplace:

Variable	Purpose	Valid values
KIMI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY	Disable anonymous telemetry reporting	1, true, yes, y (case-insensitive)
KIMI_CODE_BACKGROUND_KEEP_ALIVE_ON_EXIT	Whether to keep background tasks when the session closes; takes higher priority than config.toml. The default is to stop them on exit	Truthy: 1/true/yes/on; falsy: 0/false/no/off
KIMI_CODE_PLUGIN_MARKETPLACE_URL	Override the plugin marketplace JSON loaded by /plugins; useful for dev loopback servers, staging CDN files, or alternate marketplace directories	https://code.kimi.com/kimi-code/plugins/marketplace.json; also accepts http://, file:// URLs, and local paths
KIMI_CODE_AGENT_SWARM_MAX_CONCURRENCY	Cap how many AgentSwarm subagents run concurrently during the initial ramp; leave unset for no cap	Positive integer; invalid values fail fast
KIMI_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_FLAG	Enable all registered experimental features for this process	1, true, yes, on
KIMI_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_MICRO_COMPACTION	Override [experimental].micro_compaction for this process	Truthy or falsy
KIMI_SHELL_PATH	Override the Git Bash path on Windows (used when auto-detection fails)	Absolute path
KIMI_MODEL_MAX_COMPLETION_TOKENS	Hard cap on max_completion_tokens per LLM step; applies to the kimi provider only	Positive integer; 0 or negative disables clamping
KIMI_MODEL_TEMPERATURE	Sampling temperature for every request; applies to the kimi provider only (global — independent of KIMI_MODEL_NAME)	Number, e.g. 0.3
KIMI_MODEL_TOP_P	Nucleus-sampling top_p for every request; applies to the kimi provider only (global)	Number, e.g. 0.95
KIMI_MODEL_THINKING_KEEP	Moonshot preserved-thinking passthrough (thinking.keep); applies to the kimi provider only, and only while Thinking is on	A value the API accepts, e.g. all
KIMI_CODE_NO_AUTO_UPDATE	Fully disable the update preflight — no check, background install, or prompt. Legacy alias KIMI_CLI_NO_AUTO_UPDATE is also honored	Truthy: 1/true/yes/on
KIMI_DISABLE_CRON	Disable the scheduled-task tool (CronCreate rejects new schedules; existing tasks do not fire)	1 to disable

Diagnostic logs

These variables control log level and file rotation, read once at process startup:

Variable	Purpose	Default
KIMI_LOG_LEVEL	Log level: off, error, warn, info, debug	info
KIMI_LOG_GLOBAL_MAX_BYTES	Maximum bytes per global log file	6291456 (6 MB)
KIMI_LOG_GLOBAL_FILES	Number of global log files to retain	5
KIMI_LOG_SESSION_MAX_BYTES	Maximum bytes per session log file	5242880 (5 MB)
KIMI_LOG_SESSION_FILES	Number of session log files to retain	3

System environment variables

The CLI also reads several standard system variables to detect the runtime environment; it does not modify them:

• HOME: used to resolve the default data path
• VISUAL, EDITOR: external editor command (VISUAL takes precedence)
• PATH: used to locate dependencies such as rg, fd, fdfind, and git; on Windows, Git Bash detection checks each git.exe found on PATH, including package-manager shims such as Scoop
• NO_COLOR, FORCE_COLOR: control color output (following the no-color.org convention)
• CI: when non-empty and not "0", disables theme detection and falls back to the dark theme
• TERM_PROGRAM, TERM, TMUX: detect terminal features and notification support
• DISPLAY, WAYLAND_DISPLAY, XDG_SESSION_TYPE: detect Linux graphical sessions (for clipboard and image features)
• WSL_DISTRO_NAME, WSLENV: detect WSL for the clipboard PowerShell bridge
• LOCALAPPDATA: used on Windows as a fallback when probing for the Git Bash installation path

HTTP proxy

Kimi Code honors the standard proxy environment variables for all outbound traffic — model API calls, MCP servers, web tools, telemetry, sign-in, and update checks:

• HTTP_PROXY / http_proxy: proxy for http:// requests
• HTTPS_PROXY / https_proxy: proxy for https:// requests
• ALL_PROXY / all_proxy: fallback proxy used when the scheme-specific variable is unset; this is where a SOCKS proxy is usually set
• NO_PROXY / no_proxy: comma-separated hosts that bypass the proxy

Both HTTP(S) and SOCKS proxies are supported. A SOCKS proxy is recognized by its scheme — socks5://, socks5h://, socks4://, or socks:// (an alias for socks5://) — and is typically set via ALL_PROXY (the form used by tools like Clash and V2RayN). An HTTP(S) proxy takes precedence over ALL_PROXY for HTTP/HTTPS traffic.

The proxy is applied only when one of these variables is set; otherwise connections are made directly. Loopback hosts (localhost, 127.0.0.1, ::1) always bypass the proxy, so a local server such as a localhost MCP server keeps working when a proxy is configured — add your own internal hosts to NO_PROXY to exempt them too.

Stdio MCP servers that run as Node child processes honor HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY / NO_PROXY automatically when the child's Node version supports NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY (Node ≥ 22.21 or ≥ 24.5); SOCKS proxying applies to Kimi Code's own traffic only.

Next steps

• Config overrides — how environment variables, CLI options, and the config file interact by priority
• Data locations — directory structure affected by KIMI_CODE_HOME
• Providers and models — full connection examples per provider type