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The Sentry CLI supports various environment variables to control its behavior without command-line flags. This page provides a comprehensive reference.

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Authentication

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SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN

Type: String
Priority: Highest (overrides SENTRY_TOKEN and stored OAuth tokens) Authentication token for Sentry API requests. This can be:
  • An OAuth access token (from sentry auth login)
  • A user auth token (from Sentry settings)
  • An org auth token (for CI/CD)
export SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN=sntrys_your_token_here
When set, the CLI:
  • Skips all OAuth flows
  • Ignores stored tokens in the database
  • Assumes the token is valid (no refresh/expiry checks)

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SENTRY_TOKEN

Type: String
Priority: Medium (used if SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN is not set) Alternative to SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN. Provided for compatibility with legacy Sentry CLI tools. 
export SENTRY_TOKEN=sntrys_your_token_here

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Configuration

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SENTRY_URL

Type: URL
Default: https://sentry.io The base URL of your Sentry instance. Required for self-hosted Sentry installations. 
# Self-hosted
export SENTRY_URL=https://sentry.example.com

# SaaS (default)
export SENTRY_URL=https://sentry.io
Used for:
  • OAuth device flow
  • API requests (for control silo)
  • Region discovery

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SENTRY_ORG

Type: String Default organization slug for commands that require an organization context. 
export SENTRY_ORG=my-organization
When set:
  • Commands use this org by default
  • Can be overridden by positional arguments or --org flag
  • Auto-detection is skipped

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SENTRY_PROJECT

Type: String Default project slug for commands that require a project context. 
export SENTRY_PROJECT=my-project
When set:
  • Commands use this project by default
  • Can be overridden by positional arguments
  • Auto-detection is skipped
Note: Both SENTRY_ORG and SENTRY_PROJECT must be set together for project-scoped commands.

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SENTRY_DSN

Type: DSN URL Sentry DSN (Data Source Name) for auto-detecting org/project context. 
export SENTRY_DSN=https://abc123@o123456.ingest.us.sentry.io/7890123
When set:
  • The CLI extracts org and project information from the DSN
  • Takes precedence over file-based DSN detection
  • Can be overridden by SENTRY_ORG/SENTRY_PROJECT or command arguments

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SENTRY_CONFIG_DIR

Type: Directory path
Default: ~/.config/sentry-cli (Linux/macOS), %APPDATA%\sentry-cli (Windows) Custom location for the CLI’s configuration directory and SQLite database. 
export SENTRY_CONFIG_DIR=/path/to/custom/config
Useful for:
  • Running multiple CLI instances with separate configs
  • Testing and development
  • Containerized environments

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SENTRY_CLIENT_ID

Type: String
Required: For self-hosted OAuth OAuth client ID for device flow authentication. Required for self-hosted Sentry instances (version 26.1.0+). 
export SENTRY_CLIENT_ID=your-oauth-client-id
To obtain a client ID:
  1. Go to your Sentry instance Settings → Developer Settings
  2. Create a new public OAuth application
  3. Copy the client ID
Note: Not required for SaaS (sentry.io).

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Behavior Control

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SENTRY_LOG_LEVEL

Type: String
Default: info
Values: error, warn, info, debug, trace Controls the verbosity of CLI logging output. 
export SENTRY_LOG_LEVEL=debug
Log levels:
  • error (0): Only errors
  • warn (1): Errors and warnings
  • info (3): Normal output (default)
  • debug (4): Detailed debugging information
  • trace (5): Very verbose (includes HTTP requests)
Alternative: Use the --log-level flag or --verbose flag (sets level to debug).

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NO_COLOR

Type: Boolean (1 or unset)
Default: Unset Disables colored output in the CLI. 
export NO_COLOR=1
When set:
  • All ANSI color codes are stripped from output
  • Markdown formatting is rendered as plain text
  • Useful for CI/CD environments or when piping output

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SENTRY_PLAIN_OUTPUT

Type: Boolean (1 or unset)
Default: Unset Forces plain text output (disables color and fancy formatting). 
export SENTRY_PLAIN_OUTPUT=1
Similar to NO_COLOR but with higher priority. Checked before NO_COLOR and TTY detection.

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SENTRY_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK

Type: Boolean (1 or unset)
Default: Unset Disables automatic version update checks. 
export SENTRY_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK=1
When set:
  • The CLI won’t check for new versions on startup
  • Update notifications are suppressed
  • Useful for CI/CD environments

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Advanced

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SENTRY_CLI_NO_AUTO_REPAIR

Type: Boolean (1 or unset)
Default: Unset Disables automatic database schema repair. 
export SENTRY_CLI_NO_AUTO_REPAIR=1
When set:
  • Schema errors will cause the CLI to exit instead of auto-fixing
  • Useful for debugging schema migration issues
  • Not recommended for normal use

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SENTRY_CLI_DSN

Type: DSN URL
Default: https://[email protected]/4510776311808000 (hardcoded) DSN for CLI telemetry (error tracking of the CLI itself, not your projects). 
# Disable CLI telemetry
export SENTRY_CLI_DSN=""
Note: This is for tracking bugs in the CLI. Your project’s DSN is separate and configured via SENTRY_DSN.

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Test Environment Variables

These variables are used by the CLI’s test suite and should not be set in production.

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SENTRY_TEST_AUTH_TOKEN

Type: String
Purpose: Authentication token for E2E tests 
export SENTRY_TEST_AUTH_TOKEN=your-test-token

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SENTRY_TEST_ORG

Type: String
Purpose: Test organization slug for E2E tests 
export SENTRY_TEST_ORG=your-test-org

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SENTRY_TEST_PROJECT

Type: String
Purpose: Test project slug for E2E tests 
export SENTRY_TEST_PROJECT=your-test-project

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Precedence Rules

When multiple sources provide the same configuration, the CLI uses this precedence order (highest to lowest):

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Authentication

  1. SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable
  2. SENTRY_TOKEN environment variable
  3. Stored OAuth token in database

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Organization/Project Context

  1. Command-line positional arguments (e.g., sentry issue list org/project)
  2. Command-line flags (--org, --project)
  3. SENTRY_ORG and SENTRY_PROJECT environment variables
  4. SENTRY_DSN environment variable (extracts org/project)
  5. DSN auto-detection (scans files in current directory)
  6. Stored defaults in database

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Output Formatting

  1. --json command-line flag
  2. SENTRY_PLAIN_OUTPUT environment variable
  3. NO_COLOR environment variable
  4. TTY detection (auto-detects if output is a terminal)

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Usage Examples

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CI/CD Environment

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
env:
  SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN }}
  SENTRY_ORG: my-organization
  SENTRY_PROJECT: my-project
  SENTRY_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK: 1
  NO_COLOR: 1

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Self-Hosted Sentry

# .env
SENTRY_URL=https://sentry.example.com
SENTRY_CLIENT_ID=your-oauth-client-id
SENTRY_ORG=my-organization

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Development/Testing

# .env.local
SENTRY_CONFIG_DIR=./test-config
SENTRY_LOG_LEVEL=debug
SENTRY_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK=1

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Multiple Environments

# Production
export SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN=$PROD_TOKEN
export SENTRY_ORG=my-org-prod

# Staging
export SENTRY_AUTH_TOKEN=$STAGING_TOKEN
export SENTRY_ORG=my-org-staging

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Security Best Practices

  1. Never commit tokens to version control
    • Add .env.local to .gitignore
    • Use secret management services (GitHub Secrets, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.)
  2. Use restricted tokens in CI/CD
    • Create org auth tokens with minimal scopes
    • Avoid using personal user tokens
  3. Rotate tokens regularly
    • Generate new tokens periodically
    • Revoke old tokens after rotation
  4. Use environment-specific tokens
    • Separate tokens for dev, staging, and production
    • Limit token access to specific projects when possible
  5. Audit token usage
    • Monitor auth token usage in Sentry settings
    • Investigate unexpected usage patterns

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