Environment Variables

Overview

LiteLLM supports configuration via environment variables for API keys, endpoints, and settings.

Provider API Keys

OpenAI

string

OpenAI API key.

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

string

OpenAI organization ID.

Azure OpenAI

string

Azure OpenAI API key.

string

Azure OpenAI endpoint.

export AZURE_API_BASE="https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.com/"

string

Azure OpenAI API version.

export AZURE_API_VERSION="2024-02-01"

Anthropic

string

Anthropic API key for Claude models.

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Google (Vertex AI / AI Studio)

string

Path to Google Cloud service account JSON file.

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/path/to/service-account.json"

string

Google Cloud project ID.

string

Vertex AI location (e.g., us-central1).

string

Google AI Studio API key.

AWS Bedrock

string

AWS access key ID.

string

AWS secret access key.

string

AWS region (e.g., us-east-1).

Cohere

string

Cohere API key.

export COHERE_API_KEY="..."

Hugging Face

string

Hugging Face API token.

Replicate

string

Replicate API token.

Together AI

string

Together AI API key.

Groq

string

Groq API key.

Mistral

string

Mistral AI API key.

Perplexity

string

Perplexity AI API key.

Anyscale

string

Anyscale API key.

Voyage AI

string

Voyage AI API key (embeddings).

Databricks

string

Databricks API key.

string

Databricks workspace URL.

Cloudflare

string

Cloudflare Workers AI API key.

string

Cloudflare account ID.

LiteLLM Settings

Core Settings

string

default:"INFO"

Log level.Options: DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR

export LITELLM_LOG="DEBUG"

string

default:"true"

Use local cost map for pricing.

string

default:"false"

Drop unsupported parameters instead of raising errors.

export LITELLM_DROP_PARAMS="true"

Caching

string

Redis hostname for caching.

string

default:"6379"

Redis port.

string

Redis password.

string

Complete Redis connection URL.

export REDIS_URL="redis://:password@localhost:6379"

Proxy Server Settings

Authentication

string

Master admin key for proxy.

export LITELLM_MASTER_KEY="sk-1234"

string

Salt key for hashing API keys.

string

Admin UI username.

string

Admin UI password.

Database

string

PostgreSQL connection string.

export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/litellm"

string

default:"false"

Store model configurations in database.

export STORE_MODEL_IN_DB="true"

Server Configuration

string

default:"4000"

Proxy server port.

export PORT="8000"

string

default:"0.0.0.0"

Proxy server host.

string

default:"1"

Number of Uvicorn workers.

export NUM_WORKERS="4"

string

Path to SSL key file.

string

Path to SSL certificate file.

Observability

string

Langfuse public key for logging.

string

Langfuse secret key.

string

Langfuse host URL.

string

Lunary public key.

string

Helicone API key.

string

Sentry DSN for error tracking.

string

Slack webhook for alerts.

Budget & Rate Limiting

string

Global budget limit in USD.

export LITELLM_MAX_BUDGET="1000.0"

string

Budget reset period.

export LITELLM_BUDGET_DURATION="30d"

Usage Examples

Basic Setup

# OpenAI
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

# Anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# Start LiteLLM
python your_app.py

Azure OpenAI Setup

export AZURE_API_KEY="your-key"
export AZURE_API_BASE="https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.com/"
export AZURE_API_VERSION="2024-02-01"

python your_app.py

Proxy with Database

export LITELLM_MASTER_KEY="sk-1234"
export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/litellm"
export STORE_MODEL_IN_DB="true"

litellm --config config.yaml

Full Production Setup

# API Keys
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
export AZURE_API_KEY="your-azure-key"
export AZURE_API_BASE="https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.com/"

# Proxy Settings
export LITELLM_MASTER_KEY="sk-1234"
export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/litellm"
export PORT="4000"
export NUM_WORKERS="4"

# Caching
export REDIS_URL="redis://:password@localhost:6379"

# Observability
export LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY="pk-..."
export LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY="sk-..."
export SENTRY_DSN="https://...@sentry.io/..."

# Budget
export LITELLM_MAX_BUDGET="10000.0"
export LITELLM_BUDGET_DURATION="30d"

# Logging
export LITELLM_LOG="INFO"

# Start proxy
litellm --config config.yaml

Docker Environment

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

services:
  litellm:
    image: ghcr.io/berriai/litellm:main-latest
    ports:
      - "4000:4000"
    environment:
      # API Keys
      - OPENAI_API_KEY=${OPENAI_API_KEY}
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
      
      # Proxy Settings
      - LITELLM_MASTER_KEY=${LITELLM_MASTER_KEY}
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://litellm:password@postgres:5432/litellm
      
      # Redis
      - REDIS_HOST=redis
      - REDIS_PORT=6379
      
      # Observability
      - LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY=${LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY}
      - LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY=${LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY}
      
    volumes:
      - ./config.yaml:/app/config.yaml
    command: ["--config", "/app/config.yaml", "--port", "4000"]
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis
  
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=litellm
      - POSTGRES_USER=litellm
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  
  redis:
    image: redis:7
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  redis_data:

.env file

# .env
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
LITELLM_MASTER_KEY=sk-1234
LANGFUSE_PUBLIC_KEY=pk-...
LANGFUSE_SECRET_KEY=sk-...

Kubernetes ConfigMap

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: litellm-config
data:
  LITELLM_LOG: "INFO"
  PORT: "4000"
  HOST: "0.0.0.0"
  NUM_WORKERS: "4"
  STORE_MODEL_IN_DB: "true"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: litellm-secrets
type: Opaque
stringData:
  OPENAI_API_KEY: "sk-..."
  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: "sk-ant-..."
  LITELLM_MASTER_KEY: "sk-1234"
  DATABASE_URL: "postgresql://..."
  REDIS_URL: "redis://..."

Loading from .env File

from dotenv import load_dotenv
import litellm

# Load environment variables from .env file
load_dotenv()

# Now use LiteLLM
response = litellm.completion(
    model="gpt-4",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
)

Provider-Specific Variables

Some providers require additional environment variables:

AWS Bedrock with Profile

export AWS_PROFILE="my-profile"
export AWS_REGION_NAME="us-east-1"

Vertex AI with ADC

# Use Application Default Credentials
gcloud auth application-default login

export VERTEXAI_PROJECT="my-project"
export VERTEXAI_LOCATION="us-central1"

Azure with Managed Identity

export AZURE_USE_MANAGED_IDENTITY="true"
export AZURE_API_BASE="https://your-endpoint.openai.azure.com/"

Security Best Practices

Never commit .env files to version control
Use secret managers in production (AWS Secrets Manager, Kubernetes Secrets, etc.)
Rotate keys regularly
Use least-privilege access for cloud IAM roles
Encrypt sensitive environment variables in CI/CD

​Overview

​Provider API Keys

​OpenAI

​Azure OpenAI

​Anthropic

​Google (Vertex AI / AI Studio)

​AWS Bedrock

​Cohere

​Hugging Face

​Replicate

​Together AI

​Groq

​Mistral

​Perplexity

​Anyscale

​Voyage AI

​Databricks

​Cloudflare

​LiteLLM Settings

​Core Settings

​Caching

​Proxy Server Settings

​Authentication

​Database

​Server Configuration

​Observability

​Budget & Rate Limiting

​Usage Examples

​Basic Setup

​Azure OpenAI Setup

​Proxy with Database

​Full Production Setup

​Docker Environment

​docker-compose.yml

​.env file

​Kubernetes ConfigMap

​Loading from .env File

​Provider-Specific Variables

​AWS Bedrock with Profile

​Vertex AI with ADC

​Azure with Managed Identity

​Security Best Practices

​Related

Overview

Provider API Keys

OpenAI

Azure OpenAI

Anthropic

Google (Vertex AI / AI Studio)

AWS Bedrock

Cohere

Hugging Face

Replicate

Together AI

Groq

Mistral

Perplexity

Anyscale

Voyage AI

Databricks

Cloudflare

LiteLLM Settings

Core Settings

Caching

Proxy Server Settings

Authentication

Database

Server Configuration

Observability

Budget & Rate Limiting

Usage Examples

Basic Setup

Azure OpenAI Setup

Proxy with Database

Full Production Setup

Docker Environment

docker-compose.yml

.env file

Kubernetes ConfigMap

Loading from .env File

Provider-Specific Variables

AWS Bedrock with Profile

Vertex AI with ADC

Azure with Managed Identity

Security Best Practices

Related