do-not-track-cli

A single .env file to opt out of telemetry across CLI tools, frameworks, SDKs, and runtimes.

TL;DR

Clone the repo and source the file:

git clone https://github.com/alloydwhitlock/do-not-track-cli.git
set -a && source do_not_track.env && set +a

To load it in every shell session, add that line to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc.

Why

Most CLI tools collect telemetry by default and implement their own opt-out variables. The donottrack.sh standard (DO_NOT_TRACK=1) is a good baseline, but adoption is uneven across the ecosystem. The toptout project catalogs per-tool opt-out variables; this project packages them as a plain .env file compatible with bash, direnv, Docker Compose, and any dotenv loader.

Usage

Shell (bash / zsh)

set -a && source do_not_track.env && set +a

direnv

Copy the contents into your .envrc, or reference the file directly:

dotenv /path/to/do_not_track.env

Docker Compose

services:
  app:
    env_file:
      - do_not_track.env

CI/CD (GitHub Actions)

- name: Disable telemetry
  run: |
    set -a && source do_not_track.env && set +a
    echo "Sourced $( grep -cE '^[A-Z_][A-Z0-9_]*=' do_not_track.env ) opt-out variables"

dotenv / 12-factor

Works with any tool that loads .env files: dotenv, direnv, Docker Compose, and similar.

What's covered

Category	Examples
JavaScript / TypeScript	Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, Gatsby, Angular, Turborepo, Strapi
Package managers	Homebrew, Yarn 2
Language runtimes	.NET, Go, PowerShell Core, Bun
Infrastructure as Code	Terraform, Packer, Consul, Vault, Pulumi, Earthly, Pants
Cloud CLIs	gcloud, az, aws sam, gh (GitHub), sf (Salesforce), wrangler
Databases	InfluxDB, MeiliSearch, Hasura, NocoDB, Meltano
AI / ML	Gemini CLI, Hugging Face Hub
DevOps tools	Serverless Framework, Fastlane, CocoaPods, Chef, Arduino CLI
Other	Stripe CLI, Rover (Apollo), Expo, Rasa, Vagrant, vstest

Full list: do_not_track.env.

Aggressive opt-ins

A few variables go further than disabling telemetry. They're in a commented-out section at the bottom of the file; read the comments before enabling them.

Variable	Tool	Side effect
HF_HUB_OFFLINE=1	Hugging Face Hub	Blocks all connections to hf.co, model downloads included
ANALYTICS=no	AccessMap	Generic name that may affect other tools checking $ANALYTICS
TELEMETRY_ENABLED=0	projector-cli	Common enough to collide with other tools
DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 / CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC=1	Claude Code	Community reports say this also disables client-side feature-flag evaluation, gating off unrelated product features — not just telemetry

Contributing

To add a tool, open a PR with:

• The entry added to the appropriate section of do_not_track.env:

  # Tool Name
  TOOL_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1
  

• A link to the official docs confirming the variable name and value

A few things to check first:

• Use the exact value from the docs. If the tool expects true, don't substitute 1.
• If the tool already respects DO_NOT_TRACK=1, add a comment noting that rather than a new entry.
• If the variable name is generic (like ANALYTICS or TELEMETRY_ENABLED), it belongs in the aggressive opt-ins section at the bottom of the file.

Maintenance

A weekly workflow cross-references do_not_track.env against the toptout dataset and upstream docs, then files a chore: weekly staleness findings issue with NEW/CHANGED/STALE sections.

Triage findings within the week they're filed:

• Verify each claim against the linked primary source before acting — the automated report can be wrong (wrong variable name, no-op variable, generic name that collides with other tools).
• Land verified findings directly in do_not_track.env via PR, referencing the issue.
• Close the staleness issue once its findings are addressed (or once confirmed to need no action).

Versioning

This project uses semantic versioning. Patch releases (v1.0.x) are cut automatically whenever do_not_track.env is updated on main. Minor and major bumps are done manually for significant changes such as structural reorganization or policy updates.

All releases are at github.com/alloydwhitlock/do-not-track-cli/releases. To pin to a specific version in CI, reference a release tag directly:

git clone --depth 1 --branch v1.0.0 https://github.com/alloydwhitlock/do-not-track-cli.git
set -a && source do_not_track.env && set +a

Credits

sneak (Jeffrey Paul) created the DO_NOT_TRACK / Console Do Not Track standard that many tools now support.

beatcracker/toptout maintains the most complete dataset of per-tool telemetry opt-out variables. Many entries here are sourced from that project.

PufPufPuf suggested the .env file format approach in a Hacker News discussion.

License

MIT