Environment variables

API keys

Only the key for the spec’s engine, and only when an answer is not in the store.

Variable	Used by	Effect
`TYPESAFE_API_KEY`	`model: jev-…`	The TypeSafe key for Jev.
`TYPESAFE_AI_API_KEY`	`model: jev-…`	Read if `TYPESAFE_API_KEY` is not set.
`DEEPSEEK_API_KEY`	`model: deepseek:<id>`, and `hunch suggest` with the default writer	The DeepSeek API key.
`OPENROUTER_API_KEY`	`model: openrouter:<id>`	The OpenRouter API key.

A missing key stops the command before anything is sent: command_guard: set TYPESAFE_API_KEY to ask jev-1.13.0 (38 requests to send).

Variable	Default	Effect
`HUNCH_STORE`	unset	Path of the SQLite store to use, unless `--target` names a target with its own `store`. When unset, hunch uses the nearest `.hunch/store.sqlite` in the spec’s folder or above, or creates one at the git repository root. See Store.
`HUNCH_TARGET`	unset	The target to use when none is given: `--target` on the CLI, `target=` in `judge()` and `ajudge()`, so a server or app runs as `dev` without a code change. See `targets`.
`HUNCH_MAX_COST`	unset (no cap)	The most one set of asks may be charged, in US dollars (a judgment’s missing answers; its escalations and `test`’s order check are separate sets): nothing is asked if the estimate is above it, and a request is sent only if its worst case still fits. `--max-cost` overrides it on the CLI. Read once when `hunch` is imported.
`HUNCH_CONCURRENCY`	`16`	Requests in flight at once for each judgment. The 100,000-row test ran at 32 with no rate-limit errors. Read once at import.
`FASTEMBED_CACHE_PATH`	`~/.cache/hunch/encoders`	Where `hunch distill` and `distilled:` models keep the encoder they download once (about 90 MB).
`NO_COLOR`	unset	Any value turns off bold and dim text on the `hunch review` screen. Output is also plain when it is not a terminal.
`GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY`	set by GitHub Actions	When set, `hunch test` also appends a Markdown table of its results to this file, which GitHub shows on the run’s summary page. See Test in CI.

Variable	Default	Effect
`HUNCH_PROJECTS`	the current folder	The folder every request `path` is relative to. Paths that resolve outside it are refused.
`HUNCH_SERVER_TOKEN`	unset (open server)	The token every request must carry. See authentication.
`HUNCH_SERVER_MAX_COST`	`0.01`	The cost cap for answers the server asks for, per judgment per request, in US dollars. It replaces `HUNCH_MAX_COST` inside the server.

The server also reads HUNCH_STORE, HUNCH_CONCURRENCY and the API keys, like the CLI.