apiki
Advanced
Shell Integration

Shell Integration

apiki integrates with your shell to set environment variables in your current session.

How It Works

When you quit apiki (with Enter), it outputs shell commands to stdout:

export DATABASE_URL='postgres://localhost/mydb'
export API_KEY='secret123'
unset OLD_VAR

The shell integration wraps apiki so these commands are automatically evaluated in your current shell.

Supported Shells

  • Bash (3.0+)
  • Zsh (all versions)
  • Fish (all versions)

Output Format

Selected variables produce export commands:

export VAR_NAME='value'

Values are properly escaped for shell safety.

Deselected variables that were previously set produce unset commands:

unset VAR_NAME

Manual Evaluation

If you want to review commands before applying, or integrate apiki into a script:

# Preview the commands
"$APIKI_DIR/apiki" > /tmp/apiki-commands.sh
cat /tmp/apiki-commands.sh

# Apply after review
source /tmp/apiki-commands.sh

Or pipe directly:

eval "$("$APIKI_DIR/apiki")"

Shell Setup

The init scripts set up a wrapper function. For reference:

apiki() {
  eval "$("${APIKI_DIR:-$HOME/.local/share/apiki}/apiki" "$@")"
}
function apiki
  eval ("$APIKI_DIR/apiki" $argv)
end

Best Practices

  • Use descriptive labels – Makes variables easier to find
  • Group related variables – Use consistent naming (e.g., DB_*, AWS_*)
  • Use .env files for projects – Keep project-specific config in .env files
Configuration