diff --git a/litellm/__init__.py b/litellm/__init__.py
index 59c8c78eb9..836a0eac4c 100644
--- a/litellm/__init__.py
+++ b/litellm/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
 ### Hide pydantic namespace conflict warnings globally ###
+"""
+    This automatically infers the following arguments from their corresponding environment variables if they are not provided:
+    - `api_key` from `LITELLM_API_KEY`
+    - `api_base` from `LITELLM_API_BASE`
+    
+    If provided they will be overwritten by provided values
+"""
 import warnings
 
 warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", message=".*conflict with protected namespace.*")
@@ -167,7 +174,7 @@ drop_params = bool(os.getenv("LITELLM_DROP_PARAMS", False))
 modify_params = bool(os.getenv("LITELLM_MODIFY_PARAMS", False))
 retry = True
 ### AUTH ###
-api_key: Optional[str] = None
+api_key: Optional[str] = os.getenv("LITELLM_API_KEY")
 openai_key: Optional[str] = None
 groq_key: Optional[str] = None
 databricks_key: Optional[str] = None
@@ -345,7 +352,7 @@ def identify(event_details):
 
 
 ####### ADDITIONAL PARAMS ################### configurable params if you use proxy models like Helicone, map spend to org id, etc.
-api_base: Optional[str] = None
+api_base: Optional[str] = os.getenv("LITELLM_API_BASE")
 headers = None
 api_version = None
 organization = None