> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://fuguai.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Environment variables

> Every environment variable hunch and hunch-server read, with its default and effect.

## 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)`.

## hunch

| Variable               | Default                   | Effect                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `HUNCH_STORE`          | unset                     | Path of the SQLite store to use. 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](/reference/store#where-it-lives).                                                                                                                   |
| `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`](/guides/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](/guides/test-in-ci#a-github-actions-workflow).                                                                                                                                     |

## hunch-server

| 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](/reference/server-api#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.