Environment Variables

Environment variables override stored configuration values.

Authentication & API

Context

Agent Runtime

Environment isolation for pretorin agent run

The Codex subprocess does not inherit your shell environment. Pretorin builds a fresh environment containing exactly five variables — CODEX_HOME, OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENAI_BASE_URL, PATH, and HOME — where the two OPENAI_* values are the resolved model key and model base URL, not whatever you exported.

The Pretorin MCP server that Codex launches (pretorin mcp-serve) is a child of that process, so it inherits the same five variables. Practical consequences:

• PRETORIN_API_KEY, PRETORIN_SYSTEM_ID, PRETORIN_FRAMEWORK_ID, and every other PRETORIN_* variable do not reach the agent’s tool calls. Inside agent run, the MCP server reads ~/.pretorin/config.json only. Run pretorin login and pretorin context set before pretorin agent run rather than relying on exported variables — an env-only CI setup authenticates the CLI but leaves the agent’s tools unauthenticated.
• HOME is passed through, so ~/.pretorin/config.json, the recipe folders, and ~/.pretorin/mcp.json all resolve normally.
• Extra MCP servers that need their own secrets (for example GITHUB_TOKEN) must declare them in the env block of their ~/.pretorin/mcp.json entry; exporting them in your shell is not enough. See Agent Runtime.

This isolation applies only to pretorin agent run. Every other pretorin command runs in your shell and honors the variables below normally.

Source Attestation

Behavior

Self-Update

pretorin update runs its installer and verification steps in a subprocess whose environment is derived from your shell, with these adjustments. Except for PRETORIN_UPDATE_BASE_URL, you do not set any of these yourself — the rest document what the command does to the environment it passes down.

If neither installer layout is detected, the subprocess inherits your environment unchanged apart from the PYTHONPATH / PYTHONHOME removal.

Cloud Scanner Recipes

These are standard cloud-provider SDK environment variables. Pretorin’s bundled asset-inventory recipes honor them when scanning AWS/Azure.

Recipe Authoring

Precedence

For the API key:

1. PRETORIN_API_KEY environment variable (highest)
2. api_key in ~/.pretorin/config.json

For the platform API URL:

1. PRETORIN_PLATFORM_API_BASE_URL environment variable (highest)
2. PRETORIN_API_BASE_URL environment variable (legacy alias)
3. platform_api_base_url in ~/.pretorin/config.json
4. api_base_url in ~/.pretorin/config.json (legacy)
5. https://platform.pretorin.com/api/v1/public default

For the model key (agent runtime):

1. config.api_key (from pretorin login) — used as bearer key for the platform model proxy
2. OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable
3. config.openai_api_key

When --base-url is explicitly provided (i.e. pointing the agent at a non-platform endpoint), the order flips to prefer OPENAI_API_KEY first, then falls back to config keys.

For the model name:

1. OPENAI_MODEL environment variable (highest)
2. openai_model in ~/.pretorin/config.json
3. Org AI settings from the platform (cached)
4. gpt-4o default

For the source manifest:

1. PRETORIN_SOURCE_MANIFEST environment variable (highest) — JSON string or file path
2. .pretorin/source-manifest.json in the git repo root
3. ~/.pretorin/source-manifest-{system_id}.json
4. source_manifest key in ~/.pretorin/config.json

CI/CD Example

export PRETORIN_API_KEY=pretorin_your_key_here
export PRETORIN_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK=1
export PRETORIN_SYSTEM_ID=your_system_id

pretorin frameworks list
pretorin evidence push

These variables cover the CLI and pretorin mcp-serve. They do not carry into pretorin agent run, which runs its subprocess in an isolated environment — see Environment isolation for pretorin agent run.