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Synti reads a set of environment variables at launch to locate its config, authenticate against providers, and run in server mode. Variables are useful for automation, CI, containers, and the headless server, where you don’t want to rely on the desktop UI or the on-disk stores. Synti’s own variables are prefixed SYNTI_; it also honors the standard provider keys.

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Provider credentials

See API Providers for how these map to connections.

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Configuration and paths

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Server mode

Used when running Synti as a headless server or connecting a client to one. See Headless Server and the CLI reference for usage.

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Precedence

When the same setting can come from more than one place, Synti resolves it in a fixed order.
  1. SYNTI_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (or the Synti-scoped key for the active provider)
  2. The standard provider key, e.g. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / OPENAI_API_KEY
  3. LLM_API_KEY
  4. Encrypted credential store
  5. Interactive prompt in the app
  1. LLM_BASE_URL
  2. The connection’s configured base URL
  3. The provider’s default endpoint
  1. SYNTI_CONFIG_DIR
  2. ~/.synti (default)
Environment values override what’s stored on disk. That’s intentional — it lets a container or CI job inject a key without writing it into ~/.synti.

Credentials

The encrypted store env vars can override.

Headless Server

Where the server-mode variables apply.

Network Proxy

Proxy and CA variables for restricted networks.

Config File

Settings that persist between launches.