Pius Configuration - Environment Variables, Cache, and CLI Reference

Pius is configured through environment variables for API keys, automatic file-based caching, and CLI flags for runtime options.

Environment variables

Plugins that require API keys check for them before running. If the variable is missing, the plugin is silently skipped.

Variable	Plugin	Required?	Notes
APOLLO_API_KEY	apollo	Yes	Apollo.io API key
GITHUB_TOKEN	github-org	No	Raises rate limit from 60 to 5,000 req/hr
SECURITYTRAILS_API_KEY	passive-dns	Yes	SecurityTrails API key
VIEWDNS_API_KEY	reverse-whois, reverse-ip	Yes / Optional	Required for reverse-whois; optional for reverse-ip
SHODAN_API_KEY	favicon-hash, shodan	Yes	Shodan API key
FOFA_API_KEY	favicon-hash	No	Enables additional scanner
AWS credentials	doh-enum	No	Only needed for --doh-deploy-gateways

Cache

Pius caches data automatically under ~/.pius/cache/. No configuration is needed.

Cache Type	Used By	TTL	Format
API response cache	apollo, github-org	24 hours	JSON per key
RPSL registry database	apnic, afrinic	24 hours	Decompressed gzip

How to clear the Pius cache

rm -rf ~/.pius/cache/

To clear only RPSL databases (force fresh download):

rm ~/.pius/cache/*.rpsl

CLI reference

Usage:
  pius run [flags]
  pius list

Run flags:
  -o, --org string            Organization name to search (required)
  -d, --domain string         Known domain hint (optional)
      --asn string            Known ASN hint, e.g. AS12345 (optional)
      --plugins string        Comma-separated plugin whitelist (default: all)
      --disable string        Comma-separated plugin blacklist
      --concurrency int       Max concurrent plugins (default: 5)
  -f, --output string         Output format: terminal, json, ndjson (default: terminal)
      --mode string           Plugin mode: passive, active, all (default: passive)
      --doh-wordlist string   Path to subdomain wordlist for DoH enumeration
      --doh-servers string    Comma-separated DoH server URLs
      --doh-gateways string   Comma-separated AWS API Gateway URLs for DoH
      --doh-deploy-gateways   Auto-deploy AWS API Gateways for IP rotation

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success, discovery completed
1	Runtime error

Related pages

• Plugins - Which plugins use which environment variables
• Quick Start Guide - Get running quickly
• Troubleshooting - Fix configuration issues