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Environment variables identify Step Code subprocesses, control permissions and multiple agents, and inject temporary model configuration in CI or containers. Launch Step Code from the same terminal after setting them.

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Process marker

Subprocesses inherit this marker. SDK embedding does not set it automatically.

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Runtime switches

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Telemetry

Disable telemetry in the global config.toml:
Telemetry includes device and account identifiers, not prompts, code, or paths. Telemetry, model requests, and manually submitted feedback are separate data channels. Disabling telemetry does not stop model calls.

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Injecting models with environment variables

Use this for temporary endpoints in CI or containers. When an injected model matches the built-in catalog by wire model ID, it inherits capability flags such as adaptive thinking. See Platforms and models for persistent configuration.

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Provider credentials

Each provider uses its own variables, such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and OPENAI_API_KEY. See API key providers.
Replace YOUR_STEP_API_KEY with your key. Credential priority is CLI --api-key > auth.json > environment variables. Never commit real keys. The steppage hosting plugin uses STEPFUN_API_KEY; preserve the variable name required by that tool.

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Proxies

Use HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY for outbound proxies, or global httpProxy in config.toml. NO_PROXY matches hostnames or suffixes that bypass the proxy.
Replace the port with your proxy’s port. This example bypasses the proxy for loopback requests.

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