GitHub Copilot CLI fails to pass AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable to sub-process

[doggy8088]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot in GitHub

Body

I have a SKILL that executes a script requiring the AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable. However, I have discovered that the GitHub Copilot CLI fails to pass this variable to the sub-process. I have already tried using the --yolo flag and exporting the variable locally, but it is still not being detected. Does anyone know how to resolve this issue and successfully pass the AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY to the sub-process?

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[doggy8088]

There is my test:

❯ copilot -v
GitHub Copilot CLI 1.0.43.
Run 'copilot update' to check for updates.

I already exported my AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY in the ~/.zprofile and it loaded.

❯ [[ -z "${AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY}" ]] && echo "Not set" || echo "Set"
Set
❯ copilot --yolo -p 'Run [[ -z "${AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY}" ]] && echo "Not set" || echo "Set"'
I’ll run the environment-variable check exactly as requested.

● Check AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY presence (shell)
  │ [[ -z "${AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY}" ]] && echo "Not set" || echo "Set"
  └ 2 lines...

Not set


Changes   +0 -0
Duration  12s
Tokens    ↑ 44.6k • ↓ 161 • 23.6k (cached) • 44 (reasoning)
❯ copilot --yolo --bash-env=on -p 'Run [[ -z "${AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY}" ]] && echo "Not set" || echo "Set"'
I’ll run the environment-variable check exactly as requested.

● Check Azure OpenAI API key (shell)
  │ [[ -z "${AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY}" ]] && echo "Not set" || echo "Set"
  └ 2 lines...

Not set


Changes   +0 -0
Duration  14s
Tokens    ↑ 44.6k • ↓ 115 • 39.9k (cached)

I also tested export in the shell explicitly.

export AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY='123'

I can't figure it out this.

How can I pass this env var to the copilot's sub-process?

Some env var is valid.

Another test:

export FOO_PROBE=123
export FOO_KEY_PROBE=456
export AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=789

copilot

My prompt:

 ❯ Run the following:                                                                                                                  
   python3 - <<'PY'                                                                                                                    
   import os                                                                                                                           
   for name in ["FOO_PROBE", "FOO_KEY_PROBE", "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY"]:                                                                 
       print(name, "set" if os.getenv(name) else "missing")                                                                            
   PY 

Yet another test:

export FOO_PROBE=123
export FOO_KEY_PROBE=456
export MY_KEY=789

[Jamonygr]

This sounds like the subprocess is being launched from a sanitized environment, or from a different shell context than the one where you exported AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY.

A few checks help narrow it down:

1. In the script that the skill runs, print only whether the variable exists, not the value.
2. Confirm the script is launched through the same shell where you exported the variable.
3. If the skill starts a child process, check whether it explicitly passes process.env to that child process.
4. Try a wrapper script that sets the variable immediately before invoking the real command.
5. If Copilot CLI intentionally strips sensitive environment variables for tool/subprocess calls, then this may need an official configuration or secret-passing mechanism instead of normal shell inheritance.

For security, I would avoid hardcoding the key in the skill itself. If possible, use a short-lived token, secret manager, or managed identity based authentication instead of a long-lived AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY.

[doggy8088]

Instead of hardcoding the key directly, I wrote the environment variable that stores the key. Should this be mentioned in the document if it doesn't work?