CLI Configuration

The CLI reads its settings from flags, environment variables, and a config file. The fastest way to set it up is openlit configure.

Configure once

openlit configure \
  --endpoint https://openlit.example.com:4318 \
  --api-key  $OPENLIT_API_KEY

This writes a KEY=VALUE file to:

Linux / macOS - ~/.config/openlit/config.env (honors $XDG_CONFIG_HOME)
Windows - %APPDATA%\openlit\config.env

The file is written with mode 0600 (owner-readable only). To inspect the effective configuration without writing anything - including which source each value came from - use --show:

openlit configure --show

`configure` flags

Flag	Maps to	Description
`--endpoint`	`OPENLIT_OTLP_ENDPOINT`	OTLP/HTTP endpoint URL (e.g. `http://localhost:4318`)
`--api-key`	`OPENLIT_API_KEY`	API key, sent as `Authorization: Bearer <key>`
`--environment`	`OPENLIT_ENVIRONMENT`	Deployment environment (e.g. `production`, `staging`)
`--application-name`	`OPENLIT_APPLICATION_NAME`	Application name (default `openlit-cli`)
`--content-capture`	`OPENLIT_CODING_CONTENT_CAPTURE`	Coding-agent content capture: `minimal` \| `metadata_only` \| `full`
`--show`	-	Print resolved config (and its source) without writing

Precedence

Settings resolve highest-to-lowest:

CLI flags (--endpoint, --api-key, …)
OPENLIT_* environment variables
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_* environment variables (standard OpenTelemetry fallback)
Config file (~/.config/openlit/config.env, allow-listed keys only)
Built-in defaults

For headless / fleet rollouts, prefer environment variables or flags - they take precedence over the file. Existing OpenTelemetry users can reuse their standard OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_* setup.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose	Default
`OPENLIT_OTLP_ENDPOINT`	OTLP/HTTP base URL	`http://127.0.0.1:4318`
`OPENLIT_API_KEY`	Authenticates the OTLP exporter (`Authorization: Bearer <key>`)	-
`OPENLIT_ENVIRONMENT`	Deployment environment label	`default`
`OPENLIT_APPLICATION_NAME`	App name for OTel resource attributes	`openlit-cli`
`OPENLIT_CODING_CONTENT_CAPTURE`	Coding-agent content capture mode	`full`
`OPENLIT_CODING_REPO_ALLOWLIST`	Comma/newline-separated repo patterns for personal-vs-work classification	-
`OPENLIT_USER`	Override the resolved user identity (`gen_ai.user.name`)	auto
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`	Standard OTel endpoint (fallback)	-
`OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_HEADERS`	Extra headers as comma-separated `k=v` pairs	-
`OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES`	Standard OTel resource attributes	-
`OPENLIT_DEBUG_PAYLOAD_DIR`	Tee raw hook payloads to JSONL for debugging	-

The OPENLIT_API_KEY value is never promoted into a launched agent’s child-process environment, and the config file is written 0600. The CLI never reads your shell rc files (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc) - if you set OPENLIT_* vars in a shell rc, source them before launching the agent.

Content capture modes

OPENLIT_CODING_CONTENT_CAPTURE controls how much of each coding-agent interaction is captured. Tier-1 secret redaction runs on every export regardless of mode.

Mode	What’s captured
`minimal`	Session bookends and counters only - good for cost + activity dashboards
`metadata_only`	Per-event spans without prompt bodies or tool-arg bodies
`full` (default)	Complete prompt + response bodies and tool I/O, secret-scrubbed on the way out

full is the default so the trace-detail view is useful on first use. Switch to metadata_only when rolling out across a team where prompts may carry confidential material, or minimal if you only need cost and activity rollups.

Endpoint normalization

The CLI accepts scheme-less, http://, or https:// endpoints, with or without a path/trailing slash. For non-loopback hosts it auto-upgrades plain http:// to https://. Loopback and private-range hosts (localhost, 127.0.0.1, ::1, 10.*, 192.168.*, 172.16–31.*, 169.254.*) are left on http://.

Getting Started

Reference

CLI Configuration

Configure once

`configure` flags

Precedence

Environment variables

Content capture modes

Endpoint normalization

Next steps

Command reference

Wire your coding agents

​Configure once

​configure flags

​Precedence

​Environment variables

​Content capture modes

​Endpoint normalization

​Next steps

Command reference

Wire your coding agents

Configure once

`configure` flags

Precedence

Environment variables

Content capture modes

Endpoint normalization

Next steps