Table of Contents

Environment Variables Reference

This document lists all environment variables used by Spec Kitty.

Feature Detection

SPECIFY_FEATURE

Override automatic feature detection.

Purpose: Force Spec Kitty to use a specific feature when automatic detection fails (e.g., in non-Git repositories or CI environments).

Example:

export SPECIFY_FEATURE=014-comprehensive-docs
spec-kitty agent tasks status

When to use:

  • Running commands outside a Git repository
  • CI/CD pipelines where Git context is unavailable
  • Testing with a specific feature

Template Customization

SPEC_KITTY_TEMPLATE_ROOT

Use local templates instead of fetching from GitHub.

Purpose: Point to a local directory containing Spec Kitty templates. Useful for template development or air-gapped environments.

Example:

export SPEC_KITTY_TEMPLATE_ROOT=/path/to/spec-kitty/src/specify_cli/templates
spec-kitty init my-project --ai claude

When to use:

  • Developing or testing template changes
  • Environments without internet access
  • Custom template workflows

SPECIFY_TEMPLATE_REPO

Override the GitHub repository for templates.

Purpose: Fetch templates from a different GitHub repository instead of the default.

Example:

export SPECIFY_TEMPLATE_REPO=my-org/custom-spec-kitty-templates
spec-kitty upgrade

When to use:

  • Organizations with custom templates
  • Forked template repositories
  • Enterprise GitHub instances

Agent Configuration

CODEX_HOME

Configure GitHub Codex CLI to find project prompts.

Purpose: Point the Codex CLI to the project's .codex/ directory for slash commands.

Example:

export CODEX_HOME="$(pwd)/.codex"
codex

When to use:

  • Using GitHub Codex as your AI agent
  • Codex can't find slash commands automatically

GitHub Integration

GH_TOKEN / GITHUB_TOKEN

Authenticate with GitHub API.

Purpose: Required for operations that use the GitHub API, such as fetching templates or creating pull requests.

Example:

export GH_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
spec-kitty init my-project

Precedence: GH_TOKEN takes precedence if both are set.

When to use:

  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Automated workflows
  • Rate-limited environments (authenticated requests have higher limits)

Debug and Development

SPEC_KITTY_DEBUG

Enable debug logging.

Purpose: Output verbose debug information for troubleshooting.

Example:

export SPEC_KITTY_DEBUG=1
spec-kitty agent tasks status

When to use:

  • Troubleshooting unexpected behavior
  • Reporting bugs
  • Understanding internal operations

SPEC_KITTY_NO_COLOR

Disable colored output.

Purpose: Remove ANSI color codes from terminal output.

Example:

export SPEC_KITTY_NO_COLOR=1
spec-kitty agent tasks status

When to use:

  • CI/CD logs that don't support colors
  • Piping output to files
  • Accessibility needs

SPEC_KITTY_NON_INTERACTIVE

Force non-interactive mode for CLI commands that normally prompt.

Purpose: Disable prompts and arrow-key menus (useful for CI/CD).

Example:

export SPEC_KITTY_NON_INTERACTIVE=1
spec-kitty init my-project --ai codex --non-interactive

When to use:

  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Headless scripts
  • Non-TTY automation

Summary Table

Variable Purpose Example Value
SPECIFY_FEATURE Override feature detection 014-my-feature
SPEC_KITTY_TEMPLATE_ROOT Local template path /path/to/templates
SPECIFY_TEMPLATE_REPO Custom template repo org/templates
CODEX_HOME Codex CLI prompt path $(pwd)/.codex
GH_TOKEN GitHub authentication ghp_xxx...
GITHUB_TOKEN GitHub authentication (alt) ghp_xxx...
SPEC_KITTY_DEBUG Enable debug output 1
SPEC_KITTY_NO_COLOR Disable colors 1
SPEC_KITTY_NON_INTERACTIVE Disable prompts 1

See Also

Getting Started

Practical Usage

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