# 5.4 Environment Variable Conflicts

## Overview

CC Switch automatically detects conflicts between system environment variables and app configurations, preventing configurations from being unexpectedly overridden.

**Detected environment variables**:
- `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` - Claude API key
- `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` - Claude API endpoint
- `OPENAI_API_KEY` - OpenAI API key
- `GEMINI_API_KEY` - Gemini API key
- Other related environment variables

## Conflict Warning

When a conflict is detected, a yellow warning banner appears at the top of the interface:

```
Warning: Environment variable conflict detected
Found X environment variables that may conflict with CC Switch configuration
[Expand] [Dismiss]
```

## View Conflict Details

Click the "Expand" button to view detailed information:

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| Variable Name | Environment variable name |
| Variable Value | Currently set value |
| Source | Where the variable originates from |

### Source Types

| Source | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| User Registry | Windows user-level environment variable |
| System Registry | Windows system-level environment variable |
| Shell Configuration | macOS/Linux shell configuration file |
| System Environment | System-level environment variable |

## Resolve Conflicts

### Select Variables to Remove

1. Check the environment variables you want to remove
2. Or click "Select All" to select all conflicting variables

### Remove Variables

1. Click the "Remove Selected" button
2. Confirm the removal operation
3. CC Switch will automatically back up and remove the selected variables

### Automatic Backup

A backup is automatically created before removal:

- Backup location: `~/.cc-switch/env-backups/`
- Backup format: JSON file
- Includes variable name, value, source, and other information

## Dismiss Warning

If you confirm the conflict does not affect usage, you can:

1. Click the "Dismiss" button on the right side of the warning banner
2. The warning will be temporarily hidden
3. Detection will run again on next launch

## Manual Resolution

If you prefer not to use CC Switch to remove variables, you can handle them manually:

### Windows

1. Open "System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables"
2. Find the conflicting variable in User or System variables
3. Delete or modify the variable

### macOS / Linux

1. Edit the shell configuration file (e.g., `~/.zshrc`, `~/.bashrc`)
2. Delete or comment out the relevant `export` statements
3. Reload the configuration: `source ~/.zshrc`

## Why Do Conflicts Occur

Environment variables typically take priority over configuration files, which may cause:

- CC Switch provider configurations being overridden
- API requests being sent to the wrong endpoint
- Using the wrong API key

## Best Practices

1. **Use CC Switch to manage configurations**: Avoid setting API keys in system environment variables
2. **Check regularly**: Pay attention to conflict warnings and address them promptly
3. **Back up important variables**: Confirm backups exist before removal

## Restore Deleted Variables

If you accidentally deleted environment variables:

1. Find the backup file: `~/.cc-switch/env-backups/`
2. Open the corresponding JSON file
3. Manually restore the variable to the system environment