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Environment Variables

xcsh can be configured using environment variables.

Authentication Variables

Variable Description
F5XC_API_TOKEN API token for authenticating with F5 Distributed Cloud services
F5XC_API_URL F5 Distributed Cloud API endpoint URL

Output Variables

Variable Description
F5XC_OUTPUT Default output format for command results (json, yaml, table, text, tsv)

Usage Examples

Basic Setup

# Set API credentials
export F5XC_API_URL="https://your-tenant.console.ves.volterra.io"
export F5XC_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"

# Run command
xcsh virtual list http_loadbalancer

# Set API credentials
$env:F5XC_API_URL = "https://your-tenant.console.ves.volterra.io"
$env:F5XC_API_TOKEN = "your-api-token"

# Run command
xcsh virtual list http_loadbalancer

JSON Output Default

export F5XC_OUTPUT="json"

# All commands now output JSON by default
xcsh virtual list http_loadbalancer

$env:F5XC_OUTPUT = "json"

# All commands now output JSON by default
xcsh virtual list http_loadbalancer

Shell Configuration

Add to your shell profile for persistent configuration:

Bash (~/.bashrc)

export F5XC_API_URL="https://your-tenant.console.ves.volterra.io"
export F5XC_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"

Zsh (~/.zshrc)

export F5XC_API_URL="https://your-tenant.console.ves.volterra.io"
export F5XC_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"

Fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish)

set -x F5XC_API_URL "https://your-tenant.console.ves.volterra.io"
set -x F5XC_API_TOKEN "your-api-token"

PowerShell ($PROFILE)

$env:F5XC_API_URL = "https://your-tenant.console.ves.volterra.io"
$env:F5XC_API_TOKEN = "your-api-token"

PowerShell Profile

Add to your $PROFILE for persistent configuration. Create it first if needed: 

New-Item -ItemType File -Force -Path $PROFILE

Precedence

Environment variables override connection profile settings:

  1. Environment variables (highest priority)
  2. Active connection profile
  3. Default values (lowest priority)

Security Considerations

  • Never commit environment variables with secrets to version control
  • Use secret management tools for production environments
  • Consider using .envrc with direnv for project-specific settings
  • Ensure proper file permissions on shell configuration files