Environment variables

The list below is verified against the source. Variables Lime stores under ~/.lime/ (via lime login) override the corresponding environment variables when present.

Provider credentials

Variable	Purpose
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	OpenAI key. Also used for any OpenAI-compatible service that doesn’t have a dedicated env var.
`OPENAI_BASE_URL`	Custom OpenAI base URL — proxies, Azure, or any OpenAI-compatible server.
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	Anthropic key.
`GEMINI_API_KEY`	Google Gemini key. Takes priority over `GOOGLE_API_KEY` when both are set.
`GOOGLE_API_KEY`	Google Gemini key (fallback).
`GROQ_API_KEY`	Groq key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`OPENROUTER_API_KEY`	OpenRouter key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`TOGETHER_API_KEY`	Together AI key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`MISTRAL_API_KEY`	Mistral key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`DEEPINFRA_API_KEY`	DeepInfra key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`CEREBRAS_API_KEY`	Cerebras key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`XAI_API_KEY`	xAI key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`PERPLEXITY_API_KEY`	Perplexity key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`COHERE_API_KEY`	Cohere key (OpenAI-compat preset).
`NVIDIA_API_KEY`	NVIDIA NIM key (OpenAI-compat preset).

For Ollama (local), no key is required.

Lime runtime knobs

Variable	Purpose
`LIME_CONFIG_HOME`	Override the config search root (default `~/.lime`).
`LIME_MODEL`	Override the active model slug.
`LIME_MODELS_FILE`	Override the path to the user `models.json` (primarily for testing).
`LIME_MAX_RETRIES`	Per-provider retry budget. Default `6`.
`LIME_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_INPUT_TOKENS`	Force a specific token threshold for auto-compaction across all models.
`LIME_AUTOCOMPACT_PCT_OVERRIDE`	Override the auto-compact percentage of the model’s context window.
`LIME_TIME_BASED_MICROCOMPACT_MIN`	Idle gap (minutes) before a time-based microcompact runs. Default `60`. Set `0` to disable.
`LIME_AUTO_MEMORY_DISABLED`	When set, disables automatic memory extraction at session end.
`LIME_DEBUG_COMPACTION_THRESHOLD`	Diagnostic knob that lowers the compaction threshold for testing.
`LIME_MANAGED_SETTINGS`	Path to a managed-settings file (enterprise/policy layer).
`LIME_PERMISSION_MODE`	Default permission mode (`default`, `read-only`, `accept-edits`, `bypass-permissions`, `plan`). Highest precedence — overrides `permissions.defaultMode` in config.
`LIME_HOME`	Override the runtime data root (`~/.lime`). Affects bridge state, agent files, device pairing, web-push state, IDE adapters, and `LIME_CONFIG_HOME` fallback.
`LIME_SESSION_ID`	Set by the runtime when invoking AI tools — read by skill content for `${LIME_SESSION_ID}` substitution. Don’t set this by hand.
`LIME_TASK_DIR`	Override the directory where the task store persists in-flight task lists (default: under `~/.lime/`). Used in tests and headless runs.
`LIME_WEB_SEARCH_BASE_URL`	Custom base URL for the built-in `web_search` tool. Useful when fronting search behind a proxy.
`LIME_BRIDGE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS`	Comma-separated list of additional `Origin` headers the bridge WebSocket will accept. Local origins are always allowed.
`LIME_WORKER_STALL_TIMEOUT_SECS`	Override the worker stall-detection timeout in seconds. Set high for long-running tools; default is conservative.
`LIME_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW`	Set the auto-compact threshold by fraction of the model’s context window (e.g. `0.85`). Replaces the legacy `LIME_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_INPUT_TOKENS`.
`OAUTH_CALLBACK_PORT`	Override the loopback port the Gemini OAuth callback listens on. OpenAI uses a fixed port (1455); Anthropic uses paste-back (no listener).

MCP runtime knobs

Variable	Purpose
`LIME_MAX_MCP_OUTPUT_TOKENS`	Cap on tokens returned per MCP tool call.
`LIME_MCP_IO_THREADS`	Worker thread count for the MCP runtime pool.
`LIME_MCP_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS`	Connect timeout for new MCP transports.
`LIME_MCP_CONNECTION_BATCH_SIZE`	Concurrency cap for the eager-startup connect wave.
`LIME_MCP_REMOTE_CONNECTION_BATCH_SIZE`	Concurrency cap for the remote-transport connect wave.

Build-time

Variable	Purpose
`GIT_SHA`	Embed a short commit hash in `lime --version`. Set at build time:

GIT_SHA=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD) cargo build --release

Inspect what’s resolved

/config env       Show how the runtime resolved provider credentials and
                  Lime knobs.

/config env redacts secret values by default — only the source (env var vs stored credential vs config file) and a fingerprint are printed.