i'm in the "api keys" section of the anthropic console. i can see my api key but the actual key is obfuscated.
do i have to create a new one? do you only get the one chance to copy it at create time?
How do I use Claude Code with an existing Anthropic API Key? - Stack Overflow
Anthropic API Key (Bring Your Own API KEY)
how can i retrieve an existing api key?
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I use my own API key in private projects, and it seems to work like this:
# .env file ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-...In the project:
# .claude/settings.json { "apiKeyHelper": "source .env && echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" }Then invoke
claudein inside the project root and verify with/statuscommand:Claude Code v1.0.85 L Session ID: 69... ... Account L Auth Token: apiKeyHelper L API Key: apiKeyHelper
Source: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/441#issuecomment-3207226042
If someone get this error: Error getting API key from apiKeyHelper (in settings or ~/.claude.json): /bin/sh: 1: source: not found
That error comes from the fact that your shell (likely /bin/sh) doesn’t recognize the source command — it’s a Bash built-in, not POSIX-standard.
Here's the fix (Force bash):
{ "apiKeyHelper": "bash -c 'source .env && echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY'" }
Never teach people to put a secret key in a non-popular env var convention file. Always put it in the popular environment variable file.
Looks like folks found a workaround that actually works: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/441#issuecomment-3050967059
Create a
~/.claude/settings.jsonfile with this content:{ "apiKeyHelper": "echo <API KEY>" }