CC Switch automatically detects conflicts between system environment variables and app configurations, preventing configurations from being unexpectedly overridden.
Detected environment variables:
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY- Claude API keyANTHROPIC_BASE_URL- Claude API endpointOPENAI_API_KEY- OpenAI API keyGEMINI_API_KEY- Gemini API key- Other related environment variables
When a conflict is detected, a yellow warning banner appears at the top of the interface:
Warning: Environment variable conflict detected
Found X environment variables that may conflict with CC Switch configuration
[Expand] [Dismiss]
Click the "Expand" button to view detailed information:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Variable Name | Environment variable name |
| Variable Value | Currently set value |
| Source | Where the variable originates from |
| Source | Description |
|---|---|
| User Registry | Windows user-level environment variable |
| System Registry | Windows system-level environment variable |
| Shell Configuration | macOS/Linux shell configuration file |
| System Environment | System-level environment variable |
- Check the environment variables you want to remove
- Or click "Select All" to select all conflicting variables
- Click the "Remove Selected" button
- Confirm the removal operation
- CC Switch will automatically back up and remove the selected variables
A backup is automatically created before removal:
- Backup location:
~/.cc-switch/env-backups/ - Backup format: JSON file
- Includes variable name, value, source, and other information
If you confirm the conflict does not affect usage, you can:
- Click the "Dismiss" button on the right side of the warning banner
- The warning will be temporarily hidden
- Detection will run again on next launch
If you prefer not to use CC Switch to remove variables, you can handle them manually:
- Open "System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables"
- Find the conflicting variable in User or System variables
- Delete or modify the variable
- Edit the shell configuration file (e.g.,
~/.zshrc,~/.bashrc) - Delete or comment out the relevant
exportstatements - Reload the configuration:
source ~/.zshrc
Environment variables typically take priority over configuration files, which may cause:
- CC Switch provider configurations being overridden
- API requests being sent to the wrong endpoint
- Using the wrong API key
- Use CC Switch to manage configurations: Avoid setting API keys in system environment variables
- Check regularly: Pay attention to conflict warnings and address them promptly
- Back up important variables: Confirm backups exist before removal
If you accidentally deleted environment variables:
- Find the backup file:
~/.cc-switch/env-backups/ - Open the corresponding JSON file
- Manually restore the variable to the system environment