---
title: "Configuration"
description: "Environment variables for Strix"
---

Configure Strix using environment variables or a config file.

## LLM Configuration

<ParamField path="STRIX_LLM" type="string" required>
  Model name in LiteLLM format (e.g., `openai/gpt-5.4`, `anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6`).
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="LLM_API_KEY" type="string">
  API key for your LLM provider. Not required for local models or cloud provider auth (Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock).
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="LLM_API_BASE" type="string">
  Custom API base URL. Also accepts `OPENAI_API_BASE`, `LITELLM_BASE_URL`, or `OLLAMA_API_BASE`.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="LLM_TIMEOUT" default="300" type="integer">
  Request timeout in seconds for LLM calls.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_LLM_MAX_RETRIES" default="5" type="integer">
  Maximum number of retries for LLM API calls on transient failures.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_REASONING_EFFORT" default="high" type="string">
  Control thinking effort for reasoning models. Valid values: `none`, `minimal`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `xhigh`. Defaults to `medium` for quick scan mode.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_MEMORY_COMPRESSOR_TIMEOUT" default="30" type="integer">
  Timeout in seconds for memory compression operations (context summarization).
</ParamField>

## Optional Features

<ParamField path="PERPLEXITY_API_KEY" type="string">
  API key for Perplexity AI. Enables real-time web search during scans for OSINT and vulnerability research.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_DISABLE_BROWSER" default="false" type="boolean">
  Disable browser automation tools.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_TELEMETRY" default="1" type="string">
  Global telemetry default toggle. Set to `0`, `false`, `no`, or `off` to disable both PostHog and OTEL unless overridden by per-channel flags below.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_OTEL_TELEMETRY" type="string">
  Enable/disable OpenTelemetry run observability independently. When unset, falls back to `STRIX_TELEMETRY`.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_POSTHOG_TELEMETRY" type="string">
  Enable/disable PostHog product telemetry independently. When unset, falls back to `STRIX_TELEMETRY`.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="TRACELOOP_BASE_URL" type="string">
  OTLP/Traceloop base URL for remote OpenTelemetry export. If unset, Strix keeps traces local only.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="TRACELOOP_API_KEY" type="string">
  API key used for remote trace export. Remote export is enabled only when both `TRACELOOP_BASE_URL` and `TRACELOOP_API_KEY` are set.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="TRACELOOP_HEADERS" type="string">
  Optional custom OTEL headers (JSON object or `key=value,key2=value2`). Useful for Langfuse or custom/self-hosted OTLP gateways.
</ParamField>

When remote OTEL vars are not set, Strix still writes complete run telemetry locally to:

```bash
strix_runs/<run_name>/events.jsonl
```

When remote vars are set, Strix dual-writes telemetry to both local JSONL and the remote OTEL endpoint.

## Docker Configuration

<ParamField path="STRIX_IMAGE" default="ghcr.io/usestrix/strix-sandbox:0.1.13" type="string">
  Docker image to use for the sandbox container.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="DOCKER_HOST" type="string">
  Docker daemon socket path. Use for remote Docker hosts or custom configurations.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_RUNTIME_BACKEND" default="docker" type="string">
  Runtime backend for the sandbox environment.
</ParamField>

## Sandbox Configuration

<ParamField path="STRIX_SANDBOX_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT" default="120" type="integer">
  Maximum execution time in seconds for sandbox operations.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="STRIX_SANDBOX_CONNECT_TIMEOUT" default="10" type="integer">
  Timeout in seconds for connecting to the sandbox container.
</ParamField>

## Config File

Strix stores configuration in `~/.strix/cli-config.json`. You can also specify a custom config file:

```bash
strix --target ./app --config /path/to/config.json
```

**Config file format:**

```json
{
  "env": {
    "STRIX_LLM": "openai/gpt-5.4",
    "LLM_API_KEY": "sk-...",
    "STRIX_REASONING_EFFORT": "high"
  }
}
```

## Example Setup

```bash
# Required
export STRIX_LLM="openai/gpt-5.4"
export LLM_API_KEY="sk-..."

# Optional: Enable web search
export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="pplx-..."

# Optional: Custom timeouts
export LLM_TIMEOUT="600"
export STRIX_SANDBOX_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT="300"

```