diff --git a/packages/client-sdk-nodejs/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts b/packages/client-sdk-nodejs/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts
index afb1b73a9..468743e8a 100644
--- a/packages/client-sdk-nodejs/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts
+++ b/packages/client-sdk-nodejs/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts
@@ -3,9 +3,14 @@ import {
   TopicClient,
   PreviewVectorIndexClient,
   PreviewLeaderboardClient,
+  CredentialProvider,
 } from '../../src';
 import {credsProvider} from './integration-setup';
 
+// These tokens have valid syntax, but they don't actually have valid credentials.  Just used for unit testing.
+const fakeTestV1ApiKey =
+  'eyJhcGlfa2V5IjogImV5SjBlWEFpT2lKS1YxUWlMQ0poYkdjaU9pSklVekkxTmlKOS5leUpwYzNNaU9pSlBibXhwYm1VZ1NsZFVJRUoxYVd4a1pYSWlMQ0pwWVhRaU9qRTJOemd6TURVNE1USXNJbVY0Y0NJNk5EZzJOVFV4TlRReE1pd2lZWFZrSWpvaUlpd2ljM1ZpSWpvaWFuSnZZMnRsZEVCbGVHRnRjR3hsTG1OdmJTSjkuOEl5OHE4NExzci1EM1lDb19IUDRkLXhqSGRUOFVDSXV2QVljeGhGTXl6OCIsICJlbmRwb2ludCI6ICJ0ZXN0Lm1vbWVudG9ocS5jb20ifQo=';
+
 describe('default configurations', () => {
   it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a default configuration', async () => {
     const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
@@ -21,6 +26,31 @@ describe('default configurations', () => {
     expect(cacheClientViaFactory).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
   });
 
+  it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a simple string for env var', () => {
+    const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
+      credentialProvider:
+        CredentialProvider.fromEnvironmentVariable('TEST_AUTH_TOKEN'),
+      defaultTtlSeconds: 60,
+    });
+    expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
+  });
+
+  it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a simple string for env var, using short function name', () => {
+    const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
+      credentialProvider: CredentialProvider.fromEnvVar('TEST_AUTH_TOKEN'),
+      defaultTtlSeconds: 60,
+    });
+    expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
+  });
+
+  it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a simple string for fromString', () => {
+    const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
+      credentialProvider: CredentialProvider.fromString(fakeTestV1ApiKey),
+      defaultTtlSeconds: 60,
+    });
+    expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
+  });
+
   it('TopicClient should be able to be constructed with a default configuration', () => {
     const topicClientViaConstructor = new TopicClient({
       credentialProvider: credsProvider(),
diff --git a/packages/client-sdk-web/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts b/packages/client-sdk-web/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts
index 36fce640e..d9cfdbed6 100644
--- a/packages/client-sdk-web/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts
+++ b/packages/client-sdk-web/test/integration/client-constructor-default-configs.test.ts
@@ -3,9 +3,14 @@ import {
   TopicClient,
   PreviewVectorIndexClient,
   PreviewLeaderboardClient,
+  CredentialProvider,
 } from '../../src';
 import {credsProvider} from './integration-setup';
 
+// These tokens have valid syntax, but they don't actually have valid credentials.  Just used for unit testing.
+const fakeTestV1ApiKey =
+  'eyJhcGlfa2V5IjogImV5SjBlWEFpT2lKS1YxUWlMQ0poYkdjaU9pSklVekkxTmlKOS5leUpwYzNNaU9pSlBibXhwYm1VZ1NsZFVJRUoxYVd4a1pYSWlMQ0pwWVhRaU9qRTJOemd6TURVNE1USXNJbVY0Y0NJNk5EZzJOVFV4TlRReE1pd2lZWFZrSWpvaUlpd2ljM1ZpSWpvaWFuSnZZMnRsZEVCbGVHRnRjR3hsTG1OdmJTSjkuOEl5OHE4NExzci1EM1lDb19IUDRkLXhqSGRUOFVDSXV2QVljeGhGTXl6OCIsICJlbmRwb2ludCI6ICJ0ZXN0Lm1vbWVudG9ocS5jb20ifQo=';
+
 describe('default configurations', () => {
   it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a default configuration', () => {
     const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
@@ -15,6 +20,31 @@ describe('default configurations', () => {
     expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
   });
 
+  it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a simple string for env var', () => {
+    const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
+      credentialProvider:
+        CredentialProvider.fromEnvironmentVariable('TEST_AUTH_TOKEN'),
+      defaultTtlSeconds: 60,
+    });
+    expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
+  });
+
+  it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a simple string for env var, using short function name', () => {
+    const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
+      credentialProvider: CredentialProvider.fromEnvVar('TEST_AUTH_TOKEN'),
+      defaultTtlSeconds: 60,
+    });
+    expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
+  });
+
+  it('CacheClient should be able to be constructed with a simple string for fromString', () => {
+    const cacheClientViaConstructor = new CacheClient({
+      credentialProvider: CredentialProvider.fromString(fakeTestV1ApiKey),
+      defaultTtlSeconds: 60,
+    });
+    expect(cacheClientViaConstructor).toBeInstanceOf(CacheClient);
+  });
+
   it('TopicClient should be able to be constructed with a default configuration', () => {
     const topicClientViaConstructor = new TopicClient({
       credentialProvider: credsProvider(),
diff --git a/packages/core/src/auth/credential-provider.ts b/packages/core/src/auth/credential-provider.ts
index 75da9dbe7..6cd8b01b4 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/auth/credential-provider.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/auth/credential-provider.ts
@@ -74,13 +74,19 @@ export abstract class CredentialProvider {
   abstract areEndpointsOverridden(): boolean;
 
   static fromEnvironmentVariable(
-    props: EnvMomentoTokenProviderProps
+    props: EnvMomentoTokenProviderProps | string
+  ): CredentialProvider {
+    return new EnvMomentoTokenProvider(props);
+  }
+
+  static fromEnvVar(
+    props: EnvMomentoTokenProviderProps | string
   ): CredentialProvider {
     return new EnvMomentoTokenProvider(props);
   }
 
   static fromString(
-    props: StringMomentoTokenProviderProps
+    props: StringMomentoTokenProviderProps | string
   ): CredentialProvider {
     return new StringMomentoTokenProvider(props);
   }
@@ -140,7 +146,10 @@ export class StringMomentoTokenProvider extends CredentialProviderBase {
   /**
    * @param {StringMomentoTokenProviderProps} props configuration options for the token provider
    */
-  constructor(props: StringMomentoTokenProviderProps) {
+  constructor(props: StringMomentoTokenProviderProps | string) {
+    if (typeof props === 'string') {
+      props = {apiKey: props};
+    }
     super();
     let key: string;
     if ('authToken' in props) {
@@ -238,7 +247,10 @@ export class EnvMomentoTokenProvider extends StringMomentoTokenProvider {
   /**
    * @param {EnvMomentoTokenProviderProps} props configuration options for the token provider
    */
-  constructor(props: EnvMomentoTokenProviderProps) {
+  constructor(props: EnvMomentoTokenProviderProps | string) {
+    if (typeof props === 'string') {
+      props = {environmentVariableName: props};
+    }
     const authToken = process.env[props.environmentVariableName];
     if (!authToken) {
       throw new Error(