Environment variables
A small set of environment variables control how the CLI authenticates and which Claude Code executable the runner uses. They are most useful in CI and on locked-down machines.
Variables
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Your Anthropic API key. Used when a run is started with --use-api-key, so the runner bills agent work to your own Anthropic account rather than your Claude subscription. |
PIPEMASON_CLAUDE_PATH | Absolute path to the Claude Code executable the runner should invoke. Override this when Claude Code is installed somewhere off your PATH, or to pin a specific build. |
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Set this when you want to run with the --use-api-key flag. The runner reads the key from the environment and uses it for agent execution.
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..." pipemason start "add a /healthz endpoint" --use-api-key
PIPEMASON_CLAUDE_PATH
Point the runner at a specific Claude Code executable. Useful when the binary lives outside your PATH or you maintain several installs.
export PIPEMASON_CLAUDE_PATH="/opt/claude/bin/claude" pipemason start "..."
Credentials
Account credentials are not configured through environment variables. After you pair a runner with pipemason login, the resulting token is written to ~/.pipemason/credentials.json. That file stays on your machine; the cloud only stores a hash of the token.
Note
Keep
~/.pipemason/credentials.json out of version control and shared images. To rotate the token, run pipemason login again.