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Configuration

SMOLTRACE is designed for zero configuration — only HF_TOKEN is required. Dataset names are generated automatically from your HuggingFace username and a timestamp, so you never need to specify repository names.

Environment Variables

Create a .env file (or export the variables in your shell).

Required

Variable Purpose
HF_TOKEN HuggingFace token — used for reading task datasets and pushing results/traces/metrics/leaderboard.

Provider API Keys

At least one is required when using --provider=litellm. LiteLLM reads the standard provider keys:

Variable Provider
MISTRAL_API_KEY Mistral
OPENAI_API_KEY OpenAI
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY Anthropic
GROQ_API_KEY Groq
TOGETHER_API_KEY Together AI

Additional providers supported by LiteLLM work the same way — see .env.example in the repository for the full list.

Optional

Variable Purpose
SERPER_API_KEY API key for google_search when using the serper search provider (see Agent Tools).
OPENSEARCH_PASSWORD Password for the OpenSearch exporter (alternative to --opensearch-password; see Output Formats).

Auto-Generated Dataset Names

Every evaluation run generates dataset names automatically from your username and a timestamp:

  • {username}/smoltrace-results-{timestamp}
  • {username}/smoltrace-traces-{timestamp}
  • {username}/smoltrace-metrics-{timestamp}
  • {username}/smoltrace-leaderboard (persistent, updated each run)

You do not need to specify repository names on the command line.

First-Time Dataset Setup

New users can copy the standard benchmark and tasks datasets into their own account so they can customize them and guarantee availability:

smoltrace-copy-datasets

See Dataset Management for options, and Datasets for a description of each dataset.

Configuration Precedence

Most settings can be provided either as an environment variable or as a CLI flag. CLI flags take precedence. For example, the HuggingFace token is read from --hf-token if provided, otherwise from HF_TOKEN.

See the CLI Reference for the complete list of flags.