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Environment-Driven Behavior

Many environment variables modify CLI behavior without requiring explicit flags. See ENV/README.md for the complete reference, but here are key variables that affect CLI invocation:

  • CLAUDE_CODE_ENTRYPOINT — identifies how Claude Code was launched (cli, sdk-ts, sdk-py, mcp, etc.)
  • CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR — override config discovery path (default: ~/.claude)
  • CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK, _VERTEX, _FOUNDRY — provider selection for API calls
  • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN — authentication (precedence: API key > auth token > OAuth)
  • CLAUDE_CODE_DONT_INHERIT_ENV — strips inherited environment variables on subprocess spawn
  • CLAUDE_CODE_DEBUG — enable debug logging (equivalent to --debug)
  • CLAUDE_CODE_VERBOSE — enable verbose logging (equivalent to --verbose)
  • CLAUDE_CODE_SIMPLE — enable bare mode (equivalent to --bare)
  • ANTHROPIC_MODEL — set default model (equivalent to --model)

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