Global flags

Available on every abc command.

Flag	Env var	Default	Description
--address	ABC_API_ADDRESS	https://api.abc-cluster.io	abc-cluster API endpoint
--access-token	ABC_API_TOKEN	(unset)	abc-cluster access token
--workspace	ABC_WORKSPACE	(user default)	Workspace ID
--region	ABC_REGION	(unset)	Sovereignty region (ZA / KE / MZ / …)
--namespace	ABC_NAMESPACE	(unset)	Logical namespace within workspace
--org	ABC_ORG	(unset)	Organization ID (multi-org)
--cluster	ABC_CLUSTER	(unset)	Target named cluster
--output	ABC_CLI_OUTPUT_FORMAT	table	Output format: table / json / yaml
-q / --quiet	ABC_CLI_QUIET	false	Suppress informational stderr
--debug[=N]	ABC_CLI_DEBUG	0	Write structured JSON debug log
--sudo	ABC_CLI_SUDO	false	Cluster-admin elevation
--cloud	ABC_CLI_CLOUD_MODE	false	Infrastructure elevation
--exp	ABC_CLI_EXP_MODE	false	Enable experimental features
--user <email>	ABC_API_AS_USER	(unset)	Act on behalf of user (admin only)
(env only)	ABC_CLI_CONTEXT	(unset)	One-shot override of active context
(env only)	ABC_CLI_CONFIG_FILE	~/.abc/config.yaml	Override config-file location
(env only)	ABC_CLI_DISABLE_UPDATE_CHECK	(unset)	Silence update notifications
(env only)	ABC_CLI_AUTOMATION	(unset)	=1 signals non-interactive automation context

The full env-var surface (~76 entries across ABC_API_*, ABC_CLI_*, ABC_<RESOURCE>, component overrides, debug/test namespace, vendor fallback, and subprocess injection) lives in Environment variables — that page is generated directly from the CLI's registry, so it cannot drift from the implementation.

Resolution precedence

For every variable the CLI consults, the resolver walks:

flag  >  ABC env  >  vendor env  >  active context config  >  default

• flag — explicit --<name> on the command line
• ABC env — the canonical ABC_* name in your shell (uses os.LookupEnv, so an explicit empty ABC_API_ADDRESS= overrides the context config)
• vendor env — last-resort fallback for a handful of ABC vars with a vendor namesake (e.g. ABC_REGION falls back to NOMAD_REGION). Emits a one-time warning when no ABC context is configured.
• active context — the value persisted under contexts.<name>.<key> in ~/.abc/config.yaml
• default — registry-declared default (or empty)

Use abc admin env show <NAME> to see which source won for any variable in your current shell.

Elevation tiers

Tier	Flag	Scope
Standard	(none)	Researcher operations
Sudo	--sudo	Cluster-admin write ops, node management
Cloud	--cloud	Infrastructure, accounting, compliance

Debug logging

--debug (or ABC_CLI_DEBUG=1) writes a structured JSON log to stderr. --debug=2 adds verbose HTTP request/response traces.

Active context

abc resolves the active context from, in order:

1. ABC_CLI_CONTEXT env var
2. active_context key in ~/.abc/config.yaml
3. The default context (fallback)

Env-var introspection

Three operator commands surface the env-var surface live against your current shell + active context:

abc admin env list                 # group every canonical env var by bucket
abc admin env show ABC_API_TOKEN   # full precedence walk for one variable
abc admin env validate             # detect forbidden patterns, vendor leaks,
                                   # and shadowed values

See admin env for details.