Configuration
The CLI needs almost no configuration. Store your API key once and you're set; a few environment variables cover the less common cases.
Your API key
Store your key once and it's remembered on this machine:
lily key set sk-lily-...
lily key status
The key is written to a poolot.env file in the CLI's config directory (on macOS, under ~/Library/Application Support/; on Linux, under ~/.config/lily/) as a single POOLOT_API_KEY=... line. lily key status shows whether a key is stored along with your account and balance, and lily key clear forgets it.
Get a key from platform.pathvela.com — see Your Pathvela account.
Where things live
Everything the CLI keeps lives under ~/.lily/:
| Path | What it is |
|---|---|
~/.lily/ | State directory — cache, the downloaded binary, and bridge state. |
~/.lily/bridge.log | The bridge log (also printed by lily bridge log). |
The installer places the lily binary under ~/.lily/ and puts it on your PATH. To relocate the whole state tree, set LILY_HOME to an absolute path.
Environment variables
| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
POOLOT_API_KEY | Your API key. When set, it takes precedence over the stored poolot.env file — useful in CI and containers. |
LILY_HOME | Base directory for the CLI's state and config. Must be an absolute path. Default ~/.lily. |
LILY_NO_AUTO_UPDATE | Set it (to any value) to disable automatic updates. Same effect as passing --no-update on every run. |
LILY_WORK_URL | Point lily web and the bridge page at an alternate URL. Rarely needed. |
Example — supply the key from the environment and use a custom state directory:
export LILY_HOME="$HOME/.config/lily-state"
export POOLOT_API_KEY="sk-lily-..."
lily run "hello"
Working folder
The agent operates in the folder you run it from. cd into a project before starting the CLI, or set it explicitly with --cwd:
lily --cwd ~/code/my-app run "What does this project do?"
For auto mode, grant the folder when you install the bridge instead:
lily bridge install --folder ~/code/my-app
The agent's file access is confined to that folder.