chromium and providing the api keys at runtime

All, What is the best way to provide the API keys for chromium at runtime? Where do I put the keys?? I have only used the .profile file with export. But is does not always work. For instance when I start chromium from the menus in VTWM, chromium is complaining about missing keys. I can only start chromium from the terminal... So, I am a bit puzzled... Marco