switch-ai: One Command to Switch AI API Configs — No More Manual Env Vars

If you juggle multiple AI API services — Anthropic, OpenAI, Volcengine Ark, various relay providers — you know the pain of manually exporting environment variables every time you switch.

switch-ai is a lightweight CLI tool built to solve exactly that. It manages multiple API configurations in a single YAML file and lets you switch between them with one command.

The Problem It Solves

As a power user of AI coding tools, you might have:

• An official Anthropic API key
• A Volcengine Ark Coding Plan (using Anthropic-compatible endpoints)
• A relay provider key
• An internal API from your company

Every switch means running export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=xxx, export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=xxx… and it’s easy to lose track of which config is currently active. switch-ai lets you define all your configs in one YAML file and switch with a single command.

Dependencies

switch-ai requires just two common CLI tools:

• yq — YAML parser (supports both the Go version and the pip version, auto-detected)
• fzf — Fuzzy finder for interactive selection

# macOS
brew install yq fzf

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install fzf
pip install yq

Installation

# 1. Create directories
mkdir -p ~/.local/lib ~/.config/ai-keys

# 2. Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/WhiteWorld/switch-ai.git /tmp/switch-ai

# 3. Copy files
cp /tmp/switch-ai/switch-ai.sh ~/.local/lib/
cp /tmp/switch-ai/profiles.yaml ~/.config/ai-keys/

# 4. Restrict config file permissions (contains API keys)
chmod 600 ~/.config/ai-keys/profiles.yaml

# 5. Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
source ~/.local/lib/switch-ai.sh
alias ai='switch_ai'

Restart your terminal or run source ~/.zshrc to activate.

Configuring API Profiles

Edit ~/.config/ai-keys/profiles.yaml and add your API configurations:

# Official Anthropic
anthropic:
  ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: https://api.anthropic.com
  ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: sk-ant-xxxxx

# Volcengine Ark Coding Plan
ark:
  ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/coding
  ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: your-ark-token
  ANTHROPIC_MODEL: ark-code-latest

# A relay provider
relay:
  ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: https://relay.example.com/api
  ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: your-relay-token

Each top-level key is a profile name, and the keys beneath it are the environment variables to set. You can define any variable names — it’s not limited to Anthropic; OpenAI’s OPENAI_API_KEY works just as well.

Usage

switch-ai provides 4 commands, simple and intuitive:

ai — Interactive Selection

Just type ai and a fzf fuzzy search menu appears, letting you pick from your configured profiles:

$ ai
> anthropic
  ark
  relay

Select one and it takes effect immediately — your current shell’s environment variables are set to the chosen profile’s values.

ai <profile> — Direct Switch

If you already know which profile you want:

ai ark        # Switch to Volcengine Ark
ai anthropic  # Switch back to official Anthropic

ai show — View Current Config

Displays the currently active AI-related environment variables (keys are automatically masked, showing only the first 8 characters):

$ ai show
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL = https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/coding
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN = abcd1234...********
ANTHROPIC_MODEL = ark-code-latest

ai clear — Clear All Config

Remove all AI-related environment variables in one shot:

ai clear

Real-World Use Cases

Use Case 1: Claude Code Users Switching API Sources

If you’re using Claude Code (CLI), just run ai ark to switch to Ark, then launch claude as usual. Want to switch back to official Anthropic? ai anthropic — that’s it.

Use Case 2: Testing Different Models During Development

When building AI applications and comparing models:

ai ark          # Test with Ark's Doubao model first
python test.py

ai anthropic    # Then test with official Claude
python test.py

Use Case 3: Work/Personal Account Switching

Use the company-provided API at work, switch to your personal one after hours:

ai work     # Start of day
ai personal # End of day

Technical Highlights

• Pure Shell implementation — Zero compilation dependencies, works in both Bash and Zsh
• Dual yq compatibility — Automatically detects Go and pip versions of yq
• Key masking — ai show displays only the first 8 characters of sensitive values
• Dynamic variable detection — Reads variable names from YAML automatically, no hardcoding needed
• Permission security — Config file recommended at 600 permissions to protect API keys

Summary

switch-ai is a minimal but practical tool, especially useful for developers who work with multiple AI API services simultaneously. Instead of manually exporting a bunch of variables each time, spend 2 minutes setting up switch-ai and handle everything with a single ai command going forward.

Project repository: github.com/WhiteWorld/switch-ai