Configuration | Seshat AI

Seshat needs at least one model provider. You can set it up from the command line, from the terminal interface, or with environment variables.

From the command line

seshat config --provider anthropic --api-key sk-ant-...   # set a provider and its key
seshat config --model anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-20250514  # choose the model (provider:model)
seshat config --print                                     # show the current configuration

seshat config also takes --region, --project-id, --base-url and --resource for the cloud providers, --cwd for the default working directory, --db for the database path, and --search to set only the web search keys. The keys you save this way are stored encrypted, per provider, in the local database.

In the terminal interface, press ctrl+, for providers and ctrl+m for models. A key entered in the providers screen is stored the same way, so it never reaches seshat.json: that file holds settings, not secrets. The key that protects the database is secret.key, next to it in the runtime folder.

With environment variables

Set the variable of the provider you want. This is the simplest way for servers and scripts:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

This is the order used by seshat run and by Go programs that read the configuration. A .env file only fills variables that are not already set.

Other settings follow a simple ladder:

Environment variables include those loaded from a .env file in the current folder.

The main variables are SESHAT_MODEL (provider:model), SESHAT_API_KEY, SESHAT_RUNTIME_ROOT, SESHAT_DB_PATH, SESHAT_CWD, SESHAT_DEBUG, and for the cloud providers SESHAT_PROVIDER_BASE_URL, SESHAT_PROVIDER_REGION, SESHAT_PROVIDER_PROJECT_ID and SESHAT_PROVIDER_RESOURCE.

Supported providers

Provider	ID	Authentication	Setting
Anthropic	`anthropic`	API key	`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`
OpenAI	`openai`	API key	`OPENAI_API_KEY`
Mistral AI	`mistral`	API key	`MISTRAL_API_KEY`
Google Gemini	`gemini`	API key	`GOOGLE_API_KEY` or `GOOGLE_GEMINI_API_KEY`
DeepSeek	`deepseek`	API key	`DEEPSEEK_API_KEY`
Ollama	`ollama`	None	Local, `localhost:11434`
OpenRouter	`openrouter`	API key	`OPENROUTER_API_KEY`
Codex	`codex`	OAuth	`seshat login`, or `CODEX_API_KEY` or `CODEX_ACCESS_TOKEN`
Z.ai	`z-ai`	API key	`Z_AI_API_KEY` or `ZHIPUAI_API_KEY`
MiniMax	`minimax`	API key	`MINIMAX_API_KEY`
AWS Bedrock	`bedrock`	AWS credentials	`AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`, `AWS_REGION` (default `us-east-1`)
Google Cloud Vertex AI	`vertex`	Google Cloud	`ANTHROPIC_VERTEX_PROJECT_ID`, `CLOUD_ML_REGION` (default `us-east5`)
Azure AI Foundry	`foundry`	API key	`ANTHROPIC_FOUNDRY_API_KEY`, and `ANTHROPIC_FOUNDRY_BASE_URL` or `ANTHROPIC_FOUNDRY_RESOURCE`
Cloudflare Workers AI	`workers-ai`	API key	`CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY` and `CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID`
OpenCode Zen	`opencode`	API key	`OPENCODE_API_KEY`
Kimi (Moonshot AI)	`kimi`	API key	`MOONSHOT_API_KEY` or `KIMI_API_KEY`

The models each provider offers, with their context sizes and capabilities, are in Providers and models.

Optional tools

Some tools exist in every installation but do nothing until you give them what they need.

Tool	What it does	What it needs
`generate_image`	Image generation	An `image_generation` provider (`openai` or `gemini`) in the configuration, and a key. It reuses the key of your model provider when they are the same
`text_to_speech`, `speech_to_text`	Speech synthesis and transcription	A `text_to_speech` or `speech_to_text` provider in the configuration, and a key
`web_search`	Search the web	A key for one search service: `TAVILY_API_KEY`, `EXA_API_KEY`, `JINA_API_KEY` or `LANGSEARCH_API_KEY`, or `SEARXNG_BASE_URL`. `seshat config --search` sets them. `WEB_SEARCH_PROVIDER` picks the service
`devto_publish`	Publish to DEV	`DEV_TO_API_KEY`
`notebook_*`	Work in a live Jupyter kernel	`JUPYTER_SERVER_URL` (default `http://localhost:8888`) and `JUPYTER_TOKEN`

Reference

Configuration fileEvery key of seshat.json.Environment variablesFolders, storage, providers, search and observability.Built-in toolsEvery tool, and what it needs to be available.