API Keys

Cecli lets you specify API keys in a few ways:

• On the command line
• As environment variables
• In a .env file
• In your .cecli.conf.yml config file
• Interactively with the provider setup wizard

Interactive setup

Run cecli --configure-provider to launch the interactive provider setup wizard. It lets you choose a provider, enter its API key(s), and pick a default model. The keys are saved to ~/.cecli/.env and the model to ~/.cecli/conf.yml, so they are loaded automatically in future sessions.

This is useful for (re)configuring a provider even when a model or API key is already set.

Command line

Use --api-key provider=<key> which has the effect of setting the environment variable PROVIDER_API_KEY=<key>. So --api-key gemini=xxx would set GEMINI_API_KEY=xxx.

Environment variables or .env file

You can set API keys in environment variables. The .env file is a great place to store your API keys and other provider API environment variables:

OPENAI_API_KEY=<key>
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=<key>
GEMINI_API_KEY=foo
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=bar
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=baz

YAML config file

You can also set API keys in the .cecli.conf.yml file via the api-key entry:

api-key:
- gemini=foo      # Sets env var GEMINI_API_KEY=foo
- openrouter=bar  # Sets env var OPENROUTER_API_KEY=bar
- deepseek=baz    # Sets env var DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=baz