Environment Variables

Purpose: For platform engineers, provides the environment variables the CLI reads and clarifies which ones belong to GA infrastructure providers versus service integrations.

Precedence

When the same setting is available through multiple sources, the CLI resolves in this order (highest wins):

1. CLI --set flags
2. Environment variables
3. Config file values
4. Schema defaults

CLI Variables

Variable	Description	Default
OPENCENTER_CLUSTER	Active cluster name	Set by opencenter cluster select
OPENCENTER_CONFIG_DIR	Root configuration directory	~/.config/opencenter
OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL	Log verbosity: debug, info, warn, error	warn
EDITOR	Editor for opencenter cluster edit	vi
KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER	Optional Kind runtime override for Podman	unset

OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL

Controls CLI log verbosity. Valid values: debug, info, warn, error.

Precedence (highest wins):

1. --log-level flag
2. OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL environment variable
3. Default: warn

The CLI checks whether --log-level was explicitly set. If the flag is at its default value (warn), the CLI reads OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL from the environment. If the env var is set, that value is used. If neither the flag nor the env var is provided, the default warn applies.

# Use env var (no flag)
export OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL=debug
opencenter cluster list          # runs at debug level

# Flag overrides env var
export OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL=debug
opencenter cluster list --log-level error   # runs at error level

# Default when neither is set
unset OPENCENTER_LOG_LEVEL
opencenter cluster list          # runs at warn level

Cluster Variables (set by opencenter cluster env)

Variable	Description
OPENCENTER_CLUSTER	Currently active cluster identifier
KUBECONFIG	Path to cluster kubeconfig file
ANSIBLE_INVENTORY	Path to Kubespray inventory file
PATH	Prepended with cluster-specific bin/ directory

OpenStack Provider Variables

Variable	Description
OS_AUTH_URL	Keystone authentication URL
OS_PROJECT_NAME	OpenStack project name
OS_USERNAME	OpenStack username
OS_PASSWORD	OpenStack password
OS_REGION_NAME	OpenStack region
OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME	User domain
OS_PROJECT_DOMAIN_NAME	Project domain

VMware Variables

Variable	Description
VSPHERE_SERVER	vCenter server address
VSPHERE_USER	vCenter username
VSPHERE_PASSWORD	vCenter password

These are relevant to VMware integrations such as vSphere CSI and related credential flows.

Kind Runtime Variable

KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER

Selects a non-default local runtime for Kind, typically Podman:

export KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER=podman
opencenter cluster bootstrap dev-cluster

AWS Service Integration Variables

AWS remains relevant for service integrations, but not as a GA infrastructure provider.

Variable	Description
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	AWS access key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	AWS secret key
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION	AWS region

Air-Gap Variables (config/versions.env)

Variable	Description
KUBERNETES_VERSION	Target Kubernetes version
KUBESPRAY_VERSION	Kubespray branch or tag
CONTAINERD_VERSION	ContainerD version
CALICO_VERSION	Calico CNI version
OPENCENTER_GITOPS_BASE_REPO	Git URL for gitops-base
OPENCENTER_GITOPS_BASE_VERSION	Branch or tag for gitops-base
TARGET_ARCH	Target architecture (amd64, arm64)

Shell Integration

# Bash/Zsh
eval "$(opencenter cluster env my-cluster)"

# Fish
opencenter cluster env my-cluster --shell fish | source

# PowerShell
opencenter cluster env my-cluster --shell powershell | Invoke-Expression