Configuration

RETELL_API_KEY has the highest precedence:

export RETELL_API_KEY=your_api_key
vac retell agents list --limit 1

For saved credentials, run:

vac retell login          # global XDG path
vac retell login --local  # ./.voice-agent.json

vac retell login requires an interactive TTY and masks the API key while it is entered. Non-interactive automation should set RETELL_API_KEY instead.

New writes use mode 0600 and this provider-scoped schema:

{
  "providers": {
    "retell": {
      "apiKey": "your_api_key",
      "defaultFormat": "json"
    }
  }
}

Resolution order

src/providers/retell/services/config.ts reads:

1. RETELL_API_KEY
2. ./.voice-agent.json
3. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/voice-agent/config.json, or ~/.config/voice-agent/config.json when XDG is unset
4. ./.retellrc.json
5. ~/.retellrc.json
6. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/retell/config.json, with the same home fallback

The last three are read-only legacy fallbacks. The legacy flat { "apiKey": "...", "defaultFormat": "json" } schema is also read but never written back.

The CLI does not automatically load .env. Export the variable into the command process or use vac retell login.