Environment variables

This guide lists the environment variables that change how Cog functions.

Build-time variables

`COG_SDK_WHEEL`

Controls which cog Python SDK wheel is installed in the Docker image during cog build. Takes precedence over build.sdk_version in cog.yaml.

Supported values:

Value	Description
`pypi`	Install latest version from PyPI
`pypi:0.12.0`	Install specific version from PyPI
`dist`	Use wheel from `dist/` directory (requires git repo)
`https://...`	Install from URL
`/path/to/wheel.whl`	Install from local file path

Default behavior:

Release builds: Installs latest cog from PyPI
Development builds: Auto-detects wheel in dist/ directory, falls back to latest PyPI

Examples:

console

# Use specific PyPI version
$ COG_SDK_WHEEL=pypi:0.11.0 cog build

# Use local development wheel
$ COG_SDK_WHEEL=dist cog build

# Use wheel from URL
$ COG_SDK_WHEEL=https://example.com/cog-0.12.0-py3-none-any.whl cog build

The dist option searches for wheels in:

./dist/ (current directory)
$REPO_ROOT/dist/ (if REPO_ROOT is set)
<git-repo-root>/dist/ (via git rev-parse, useful when running from subdirectories)

`COGLET_WHEEL`

Controls which coglet wheel is installed in the Docker image. Coglet is the Rust-based prediction server.

Supported values: Same as COG_SDK_WHEEL

Default behavior: For development builds, auto-detects a wheel in dist/. For release builds, installs the latest version from PyPI. Can be overridden with an explicit value.

Examples:

console

# Use local development wheel
$ COGLET_WHEEL=dist cog build

# Use specific version from PyPI
$ COGLET_WHEEL=pypi:0.1.0 cog build

Runtime variables

`COG_NO_UPDATE_CHECK`

By default, Cog automatically checks for updates and notifies you if there is a new version available.

To disable this behavior, set the COG_NO_UPDATE_CHECK environment variable to any value.

console

$ COG_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 cog build  # runs without automatic update check

`COG_SETUP_TIMEOUT`

Controls the maximum time (in seconds) allowed for the model's setup() method to complete. If setup exceeds this timeout, the server will report a setup failure.

By default, there is no timeout — setup runs indefinitely.

Set to 0 to disable the timeout (same as default). Invalid values are ignored with a warning.

console

$ COG_SETUP_TIMEOUT=300 docker run -p 5000:5000 my-model  # 5-minute setup timeout

`COG_CA_CERT`

Injects a custom CA certificate into the Docker image during cog build. This is useful when building behind a corporate proxy or VPN that uses custom certificate authorities (e.g. Cloudflare WARP).

Supported values:

Value	Description
`/path/to/cert.crt`	Path to a single PEM certificate file
`/path/to/certs/`	Directory of `.crt` and `.pem` files (all are concatenated)
`-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----...`	Inline PEM certificate
`LS0tLS1CRUdJTi...`	Base64-encoded PEM certificate

The certificate is installed into the system CA store and the SSL_CERT_FILE and REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE environment variables are set automatically in the built image.

Examples:

console

# From a file
$ COG_CA_CERT=/usr/local/share/ca-certificates/corporate-ca.crt cog build

# From a directory of certs
$ COG_CA_CERT=/etc/custom-certs/ cog build

# Inline (e.g. from a CI secret)
$ COG_CA_CERT="$(cat /path/to/cert.pem)" cog build