Environment Variables

OpenShrimp reads the following environment variables at runtime.

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

Your Anthropic API key. Passed through to the Claude CLI for authentication.

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

This is optional if you have authenticated the Claude CLI via OAuth (claude login). When both are available, the API key takes precedence.

Tip

For systemd services, set the API key in the unit file’s Environment= directive or use EnvironmentFile= to load it from a file. See systemd deployment for details.

HCS sandbox overrides

These apply only to contexts on the HCS sandbox backend, and only when an artifact is not where the backend looks for it by default.

Variable	Description
OPENSHRIMP_HCS_KERNEL	Kernel the guest boots. Defaults to WSL’s, at C:\Program Files\WSL\tools\kernel
OPENSHRIMP_HCS_INITRD	Control initramfs you built yourself, instead of the one downloaded automatically. Unset, a copy staged at C:\ProgramData\openshrimp\hcs\initrd.img is used if present, and the released asset is downloaded otherwise
OPENSHRIMP_HCS_RDP_HELPER	Directory holding an RDP helper bundle you staged yourself, instead of the one downloaded automatically

Internal variables

These are used internally by OpenShrimp and generally don’t need to be set manually.

Variable	Description
OPENSHRIMP_RESTART_CHAT_ID	Chat ID for post-restart confirmation (set by /restart)
OPENSHRIMP_RESTART_THREAD_ID	Thread ID for post-restart confirmation (set by /restart)