Setup AI Provider

What You'll Accomplish

Configure AI provider (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, or Google Gemini) to enable AI-powered features like commit message generation, PR descriptions, and specification creation.

Start Here

This is one of the first commands you should run when setting up EAC. The init command creates the configuration file that enables AI features throughout your development workflow.

Prerequisites

Required Knowledge

New to eac? Learn these concepts first:

Quick Start Guide

Initialize eac and understand AI provider configuration

Required Setup

You need an Anthropic API key:

Provider	API Key Required	Best For
claude-api	`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	AI-powered commit messages, specs, and PR descriptions

Note: Currently only Anthropic Claude is supported via the claude-api provider.

Configuration Approaches

There are two ways to configure your API key:

Approach 1: Environment Variables (Recommended for Teams/CI)

The config file references environment variables, keeping keys out of version control:

# 1. Set environment variable
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-..."

# 2. Run init
eac init --ai claude-api

What happens:

Creates .eac/ai-provider.yml that references ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

Advantages:

Config file can be safely committed to git
Easy to use different keys per environment (dev/staging/prod)
Works well in CI/CD pipelines

Approach 2: Personal Config with Token (For Personal Use)

Store the actual API token directly in a personal config file:

# Run init with token
eac init --ai claude-api --ai-token sk-ant-api03-...

What happens: Creates .eac/ai-provider.personal.yml with the actual API key stored directly.

Advantages:

No need to manage environment variables
Simpler for personal development
Automatically gitignored

Important: This file should NEVER be committed to version control.

Steps

Option A: Using Environment Variables

1. Set Environment Variable

# Windows PowerShell
$env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-ant-api03-..."

# Linux/macOS
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-..."

2. Run Init Command

# Anthropic Claude API
eac init --ai claude-api

Option B: Using Personal Config

Run init with your token directly:

# Anthropic Claude API
eac init --ai claude-api --ai-token sk-ant-api03-...

Verify Configuration

Check that the config file was created:

# For environment variables approach
cat .eac/ai-provider.yml

# For personal config approach
cat .eac/ai-provider.personal.yml

Test AI Features

# Make a change
echo "test" > test.txt
git add test.txt

# Generate AI commit message
eac get commit-message

# Or commit directly with AI message
eac work commit

Configuration Files

The init command creates one of two config files depending on the approach used:

Environment Variables Config (`.eac/ai-provider.yml`)

Created when using --ai-provider without --ai-token. References environment variables:

provider: claude-api
api_key_env: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
model: claude-sonnet-4-5
max_tokens: 4096
temperature: 0.7

Safe to commit: This file only contains the environment variable name, not the actual key.

Personal Config (`.eac/ai-provider.personal.yml`)

Created when using --ai-token. Stores the actual API key:

provider: claude-api
api_key: sk-ant-api03-...  # Actual token stored here
model: claude-sonnet-4-5
max_tokens: 4096
temperature: 0.7

NEVER commit this file: Contains your actual API key. Should be in .gitignore.

Example Scenarios

Example 1: Environment Variables (Team Setup)

# 1. Set API key environment variable
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-..."

# 2. Initialize configuration
eac init --ai claude-api

# Output:
# ✓ Created configuration at .eac/ai-provider.yml
# ✓ Provider: claude-api
# ✓ Model: claude-sonnet-4-5

# 3. Test it
echo "test change" > test.txt
git add test.txt
eac get commit-message

# Output:
# Analyzing staged changes...
#
# docs: add test file
#
# Add test.txt to demonstrate AI commit message generation.

Example 2: Personal Config (Individual Setup)

# 1. Initialize with token directly
eac init --ai claude-api --ai-token sk-ant-api03-...

# Output:
# ✓ Created personal configuration at .eac/ai-provider.personal.yml
# ✓ Provider: claude-api
# ✓ Model: claude-sonnet-4-5
# ⚠ This file is gitignored - do not commit it

# 2. Test it (no environment variable needed!)
echo "test change" > test.txt
git add test.txt
eac get commit-message

# Works immediately - token is in the config file

Common Issues

Problem	Solution
"API key not found" (env vars)	Set `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` environment variable before running init
"API key not found" (personal)	Check `.eac/ai-provider.personal.yml` exists and contains `api_key` field
"Invalid provider"	Only `claude-api` is currently supported
"Permission denied"	Check directory permissions for `.eac/`
AI features not working (env vars)	Verify `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` is still set in current session
Personal config committed to git	Add `.eac/ai-provider.personal.yml` to `.gitignore` immediately

Making Environment Variables Permanent (Option A Only)

If you chose Option A (environment variables), you may want to make them permanent:

Windows (PowerShell)

# Set permanent user environment variable
[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('ANTHROPIC_API_KEY', 'sk-ant-api03-...', 'User')

# Restart PowerShell for changes to take effect

Linux/macOS

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-..."' >> ~/.bashrc

# Reload configuration
source ~/.bashrc

Protecting Personal Config (Option B Only)

If you chose Option B (personal config with --ai-token), ensure it's in .gitignore:

Add to .gitignore

# AI provider personal configuration (contains actual API keys)
.eac/ai-provider.personal.yml

Verify It's Ignored

# Should show nothing (file is ignored)
git status | grep ai-provider.personal

# If it shows up, you need to add it to .gitignore

Critical: If you accidentally committed this file, you must:

Remove it from git history
Rotate (regenerate) your API key immediately
Add it to .gitignore

Next Steps

Make Commits with AI → Use AI commits

init - Full init command reference
work commit - Commit with AI messages
get commit-message - Generate commit messages

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