Environment Variables

Overview

Environment variables allow you to:

Store API keys and secrets securely
Configure runtime behavior without code changes
Use different settings across environments

Setting Variables

Via CLI

crewship env set OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...

Via Console

Open the Crewship Console
Navigate to your project
Go to Settings → Environment Variables
Click Add Variable

Common Variables

LLM API Keys

# OpenAI
crewship env set OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...

# Anthropic
crewship env set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# Google AI
crewship env set GOOGLE_API_KEY=...

# Azure OpenAI
crewship env set AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=...
crewship env set AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT=https://...

Tool API Keys

# Web search (Serper)
crewship env set SERPER_API_KEY=...

# Browserless
crewship env set BROWSERLESS_API_KEY=...

# Firecrawl
crewship env set FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=...

Custom Configuration

# Logging level
crewship env set LOG_LEVEL=debug

# Feature flags
crewship env set ENABLE_CACHING=true

# Custom settings
crewship env set MAX_RETRIES=3

Accessing in Code

Variables are available as standard environment variables:

import os

# Direct access
api_key = os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"]

# With default
log_level = os.environ.get("LOG_LEVEL", "info")

# Check if set
if os.environ.get("ENABLE_CACHING"):
    enable_cache()

CrewAI Integration

CrewAI automatically uses standard environment variables:

from crewai import Agent, LLM

# Uses OPENAI_API_KEY automatically
agent = Agent(
    role="Researcher",
    llm=LLM(model="gpt-4o")
)

# Anthropic (uses ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
agent = Agent(
    role="Writer",
    llm=LLM(model="claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022")
)

Reserved Variables

Crewship sets these automatically. They’re read-only:

Variable	Description
`CREWSHIP_RUN_ID`	Current run ID (`run_abc123`)
`CREWSHIP_DEPLOYMENT_ID`	Deployment ID (`dep_xyz789`)
`CREWSHIP_PROJECT`	Project name
`CREWSHIP_ENVIRONMENT`	`production` or `preview`

Use them for logging and debugging:

import os

run_id = os.environ.get("CREWSHIP_RUN_ID")
print(f"Starting run {run_id}")

Security

Encryption

All environment variables are:

Encrypted at rest using AES-256
Encrypted in transit via TLS
Never logged in build or run output
Access controlled by project permissions

Best Practices

Never commit secrets

Add .env to .gitignore. Use crewship env set instead.

Use specific keys

Create API keys specific to Crewship. Easier to rotate and audit.

Fail fast

Don’t use fallback values for required secrets:

# ❌ Bad - silently fails
api_key = os.environ.get("API_KEY", "")

# ✅ Good - fails immediately
api_key = os.environ["API_KEY"]

Document requirements

List required variables in your README:

## Environment Variables

- `OPENAI_API_KEY` - Required. OpenAI API key
- `SERPER_API_KEY` - Required for web search
- `LOG_LEVEL` - Optional. Default: info

Loading from .env

For local development, use a .env file:

.env

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...
SERPER_API_KEY=...
LOG_LEVEL=debug

Then load with python-dotenv:

from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv()

The .env file is not used in Crewship deployments. Always set production variables via crewship env set.

Variable Scope

Variables are scoped to projects, not deployments:

Project: my-crew
├── OPENAI_API_KEY = sk-...
├── SERPER_API_KEY = ...
│
├── Deployment: dep_abc (uses these vars)
├── Deployment: dep_xyz (uses these vars)
└── All runs use these vars

Updating Variables

Changes take effect immediately for new runs:

# Update a variable
crewship env set OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-new-key-...

# Next run uses new value (no redeploy needed)
crewship invoke --input '{"topic": "test"}'

Environment Separation

Use separate projects for different environments:

# Production
crewship env set OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-prod-... --project my-crew
crewship env set LOG_LEVEL=warning --project my-crew

# Staging
crewship env set OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-test-... --project my-crew-staging
crewship env set LOG_LEVEL=debug --project my-crew-staging

CLI env Command

Full CLI reference

Configuration

Project configuration

Getting Started

CLI Reference

Configuration

Guides

Environment Variables

Overview

Setting Variables

Via CLI

Via Console

Common Variables

LLM API Keys

Tool API Keys

Custom Configuration

Accessing in Code

CrewAI Integration

Reserved Variables

Security

Encryption

Best Practices

Loading from .env

Variable Scope

Updating Variables

Environment Separation

CLI env Command

Configuration

​Overview

​Setting Variables

​Via CLI

​Via Console

​Common Variables

​LLM API Keys

​Tool API Keys

​Custom Configuration

​Accessing in Code

​CrewAI Integration

​Reserved Variables

​Security

​Encryption

​Best Practices

​Loading from .env

​Variable Scope

​Updating Variables

​Environment Separation

​Related

CLI env Command

Configuration

Overview

Setting Variables

Via CLI

Via Console

Common Variables

LLM API Keys

Tool API Keys

Custom Configuration

Accessing in Code

CrewAI Integration

Reserved Variables

Security

Encryption

Best Practices

Loading from .env

Variable Scope

Updating Variables

Environment Separation

Related