Environment Variables

Environment variables control CodeForge runtime behavior. They can be set in devcontainer.json, the settings.json env block, your shell profile, or per-session on the command line.

Claude Code Variables

Variables that control Claude Code’s core behavior inside the CodeForge container.

Variable	Description	Default	Set In
ANTHROPIC_MODEL	Primary Claude model ID	claude-opus-4-6	settings.json
ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL	Opus model ID	claude-opus-4-6	settings.json
ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL	Sonnet model ID	claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929	settings.json
ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL	Haiku model ID	claude-haiku-4-5-20251001	settings.json
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR	Claude Code configuration directory	/home/vscode/.claude	devcontainer.json
CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS	Maximum tokens per response	64000	settings.json
MAX_THINKING_TOKENS	Maximum tokens for extended thinking	63999	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_SHELL	Shell used for Bash tool execution	zsh	settings.json
CLAUDE_AUTOCOMPACT_PCT_OVERRIDE	Context usage percentage that triggers auto-compaction	95	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTO_MEMORY	Disable automatic memory features (0 = enabled)	0	settings.json

Agent Teams Variables

Variables that configure Claude Code’s multi-agent team capabilities.

Variable	Description	Default	Set In
CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS	Enable Agent Teams feature	1	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TASKS	Enable structured task tracking	true	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL	Response effort level (low, medium, high)	high	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_PLAN_MODE_INTERVIEW_PHASE	Enable interview phase in plan mode	true	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_PLAN_V2_AGENT_COUNT	Number of agents in plan mode v2	3	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_PLAN_MODE_REQUIRED	Require teammates to run in plan mode until approved	true	settings.json

Runtime Limits

Variables that control timeouts, output sizes, and concurrency.

Variable	Description	Default	Set In
BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS	Default timeout for Bash tool commands (ms)	240000	settings.json
BASH_MAX_TIMEOUT_MS	Maximum allowed Bash timeout (ms)	600000	settings.json
BASH_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH	Maximum Bash output length (chars)	15000	settings.json
TASK_MAX_OUTPUT_LENGTH	Maximum Task tool output length (chars)	64000	settings.json
MAX_MCP_OUTPUT_TOKENS	Maximum MCP server output tokens	10000	settings.json
MCP_TIMEOUT	MCP server connection timeout (ms)	120000	settings.json
MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT	Individual MCP tool call timeout (ms)	30000	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_TOOL_USE_CONCURRENCY	Maximum concurrent tool calls	5	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_RETRIES	Maximum retries for failed API calls	1	settings.json

Plugin and Feature Variables

Variables that control CodeForge’s plugin system and features.

Variable	Description	Default	Set In
FORCE_AUTOUPDATE_PLUGINS	Auto-update plugins on session start	1	settings.json
ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH	Tool search mode and limit	auto:5	settings.json
ENABLE_CLAUDE_CODE_SM_COMPACT	Enable smart compaction	1	settings.json
CLAUDE_CODE_FORCE_GLOBAL_CACHE	Force global prompt cache	1	settings.json

Workspace Variables

Variables set by the DevContainer environment that define workspace paths.

Variable	Description	Default	Set In
WORKSPACE_ROOT	Workspace root directory	/workspaces	devcontainer.json
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR	Claude configuration directory	/home/vscode/.claude	devcontainer.json
GH_CONFIG_DIR	GitHub CLI configuration directory	/workspaces/.gh	devcontainer.json
TMPDIR	Temporary files directory	/workspaces/.tmp	devcontainer.json
CLAUDECODE	Set to null to unset the detection flag, enabling nested Claude Code sessions	null	devcontainer.json

Tool-Specific Variables

Variables that configure individual tools within the container.

Variable	Tool	Description
CCMS_PROJECT	ccms	Default project scope for session search (only when ccms is enabled)
CCMS_FORMAT	ccms	Default output format (text, json) (only when ccms is enabled)
RUFF_CONFIG	ruff	Path to ruff configuration file
BIOME_CONFIG_PATH	biome	Path to biome configuration file

Setup Variables (.env)

These variables live in .devcontainer/.env and control what setup.sh does on each container start. Copy .env.example to .env and customize.

Variable	Default	Description
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR	/home/vscode/.claude	Where Claude Code config files are stored
CODEFORGE_DIR	(auto-detected)	Source directory for user-customizable config files (.codeforge/). Replaces the deprecated CONFIG_SOURCE_DIR from v1.x.
SETUP_CONFIG	true	Copy config files per file-manifest.json
SETUP_ALIASES	true	Add cc/claude/ccraw/cc-tools aliases to shell
SETUP_AUTH	true	Configure Git/NPM auth from .secrets file
SETUP_PLUGINS	true	Install Anthropic plugins and register local marketplace
SETUP_UPDATE_CLAUDE	true	Background-update Claude Code CLI binary
SETUP_TERMINAL	true	Configure VS Code Shift+Enter keybinding for Claude Code terminal
SETUP_PROJECTS	true	Auto-detect projects for VS Code Project Manager
SETUP_POSTSTART	true	Run post-start hooks from /usr/local/devcontainer-poststart.d/
PLUGIN_BLACKLIST	""	Comma-separated plugin names to skip during installation

Disabling Setup Steps

Set any flag to false to skip that step. For example, SETUP_PROJECTS=false disables project auto-detection if you manage the Project Manager list manually.

Language Runtime Variables

Variables for language runtimes installed in the container.

Variable	Description
UV_PYTHON	Python version used by uv
VIRTUAL_ENV	Active virtual environment path
PYTHONPATH	Python module search path
NVM_DIR	nvm installation directory
NODE_VERSION	Active Node.js version
BUN_INSTALL	Bun installation directory

Setting Environment Variables

There are four ways to set environment variables, listed from lowest to highest precedence.

In devcontainer.json (Container Level)

Applied when the container is created. Persists across all sessions.

{
  "remoteEnv": {
    "WORKSPACE_ROOT": "/workspaces",
    "CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR": "/home/vscode/.claude"
  }
}

In settings.json (Claude Code Level)

Applied when Claude Code starts. These are set inside the env block.

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    "CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL": "medium"
  }
}

In Shell Profile (User Level)

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc. Applied for every new shell session.

export CLAUDE_MODEL="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"

Per-Session (Highest Precedence)

Set on the command line when launching Claude Code. Overrides everything else.

ANTHROPIC_MODEL="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929" cc

Common Customizations

Here are the environment variable changes you are most likely to make:

Goal	Variable	Value
Use Sonnet instead of Opus	ANTHROPIC_MODEL	claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
Increase Bash timeout for long builds	BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS	600000
Reduce auto-compact aggressiveness	CLAUDE_AUTOCOMPACT_PCT_OVERRIDE	85
Disable extended thinking	(remove alwaysThinkingEnabled from settings.json)	—
Limit concurrent tool calls	CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_TOOL_USE_CONCURRENCY	3

Related

• Configuration — settings.json structure and file manifest
• Commands — commands that use these variables
• Architecture — how configuration layers interact at runtime