Environment Variables

Configure Strix using environment variables for LLM providers, API access, and runtime behavior

You can configure Strix using environment variables. Strix automatically saves your configuration to ~/.strix/cli-config.json, so you don’t need to set these variables on every run.

Required Variables

STRIX_LLM · string · required

Model name to use with LiteLLM (e.g., openai/gpt-5, anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6).

For Strix Router, use the strix/ prefix (e.g., strix/gpt-5).

export STRIX_LLM="openai/gpt-5"

LLM Configuration

LLM_API_KEY · string

API key for your LLM provider.

Not required for local models (Ollama, LMStudio), cloud providers with built-in authentication (Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock), or when using Strix Router.

export LLM_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

LLM_API_BASE · string

Custom API base URL for your LLM provider.

Use this when running local models (Ollama, LMStudio) or custom endpoints. For strix/ models, this is automatically set to Strix Router.

# For Ollama
export LLM_API_BASE="http://localhost:11434"

# For LMStudio
export LLM_API_BASE="http://localhost:1234/v1"

OPENAI_API_BASE · string

OpenAI-specific API base URL. This is an alternative to LLM_API_BASE for OpenAI-compatible endpoints.

export OPENAI_API_BASE="https://api.openai.com/v1"

LITELLM_BASE_URL · string

LiteLLM-specific base URL. This is an alternative to LLM_API_BASE when using LiteLLM proxy.

export LITELLM_BASE_URL="http://localhost:4000"

OLLAMA_API_BASE · string

Ollama-specific API base URL. This is an alternative to LLM_API_BASE when using Ollama.

export OLLAMA_API_BASE="http://localhost:11434"

STRIX_REASONING_EFFORT · string · default: "high"

Control the reasoning effort level for LLM responses.

Valid values: none, minimal, low, medium, high, xhigh

Higher values result in more thorough analysis but slower responses. For quick scans, use medium.

export STRIX_REASONING_EFFORT="high"

STRIX_LLM_MAX_RETRIES · string · default: "5"

Maximum number of retries for LLM API calls when encountering transient errors.

export STRIX_LLM_MAX_RETRIES="5"

LLM_TIMEOUT · string · default: "300"

Timeout in seconds for LLM API requests.

export LLM_TIMEOUT="300"

STRIX_MEMORY_COMPRESSOR_TIMEOUT · string · default: "30"

Timeout in seconds for the memory compression operation.

export STRIX_MEMORY_COMPRESSOR_TIMEOUT="30"

Tool & Feature Configuration

PERPLEXITY_API_KEY · string

API key for Perplexity AI web search.

Enables real-time research and OSINT capabilities during penetration testing. Get your API key at perplexity.ai.

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your-perplexity-key-here"

STRIX_DISABLE_BROWSER · string · default: "false"

Disable browser automation tool.

Set to true to prevent Strix from using browser automation (Playwright). This disables testing for XSS, CSRF, and other client-side vulnerabilities.

export STRIX_DISABLE_BROWSER="true"

Runtime Configuration

STRIX_IMAGE · string · default: "ghcr.io/usestrix/strix-sandbox:0.1.12"

Docker image to use for the Strix sandbox environment.

You can override this to use a custom sandbox image or a specific version.

export STRIX_IMAGE="ghcr.io/usestrix/strix-sandbox:0.1.12"

STRIX_RUNTIME_BACKEND · string · default: "docker"

Runtime backend for Strix sandboxes.

Currently, only docker is supported.

export STRIX_RUNTIME_BACKEND="docker"

STRIX_SANDBOX_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT · string · default: "120"

Timeout in seconds for sandbox tool execution.

This controls how long Strix will wait for individual tool executions (terminal commands, Python scripts, etc.) to complete.

export STRIX_SANDBOX_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT="120"

STRIX_SANDBOX_CONNECT_TIMEOUT · string · default: "10"

Timeout in seconds for connecting to the sandbox tool server.

export STRIX_SANDBOX_CONNECT_TIMEOUT="10"

DOCKER_HOST · string

Docker daemon connection URL.

By default, Strix uses the local Docker daemon. Set this to connect to a remote Docker host.

export DOCKER_HOST="tcp://remote-host:2375"

Telemetry

STRIX_TELEMETRY · string · default: "1"

Enable or disable anonymous telemetry.

Set to 0 to opt out of telemetry collection. Telemetry helps improve Strix by collecting anonymous usage statistics.

export STRIX_TELEMETRY="0"

Example Configurations

OpenAI GPT-5

export STRIX_LLM="openai/gpt-5"
export LLM_API_KEY="sk-..."

Anthropic Claude

export STRIX_LLM="anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6"
export LLM_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Strix Router (Multiple Providers)

export STRIX_LLM="strix/gpt-5"
export LLM_API_KEY="your-strix-router-key"

Ollama (Local)

export STRIX_LLM="ollama/llama3.1:70b"
export LLM_API_BASE="http://localhost:11434"

With Web Search

export STRIX_LLM="openai/gpt-5"
export LLM_API_KEY="sk-..."
export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="pplx-..."

Configuration Persistence

Strix automatically saves your environment variables to ~/.strix/cli-config.json. This means you only need to set these variables once, and Strix will remember them for future runs.

To override saved configuration temporarily, you can:

1. Set environment variables in your current shell session
2. Use a custom config file with the --config flag
3. Clear a variable by setting it to an empty string: export STRIX_LLM=""

LLM configuration variables (STRIX_LLM, LLM_API_KEY, etc.) are re-validated on each run. If you change these in your environment, Strix will use the new values and update the saved configuration.