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Providers

Providers and models

Choose providers, discover models, understand credentials, and use provider-specific model features such as reasoning and native search.

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Discover providers and models

term-llm providers
term-llm providers --configured
term-llm providers anthropic

term-llm models --provider anthropic
term-llm models --provider openrouter
term-llm models --provider ollama
term-llm models --json

Use providers when you want to know what is available and how it is configured. Use models when you want the concrete model names a provider currently exposes.

Provider categories

term-llm supports a mix of provider types:

  • hosted API providers such as Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Gemini, and OpenRouter
  • subscription-backed OAuth providers such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini CLI
  • local or self-hosted OpenAI-compatible providers such as Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, or custom endpoints

Credentials

Most providers use API keys via environment variables. Some use OAuth credentials from companion CLIs or locally stored auth files.

Provider Credentials source Notes
anthropic ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN API key or OAuth token
openai OPENAI_API_KEY Standard OpenAI API key
chatgpt ~/.config/term-llm/chatgpt_creds.json ChatGPT Plus/Pro OAuth
copilot ~/.config/term-llm/copilot_creds.json GitHub Copilot OAuth
gemini GEMINI_API_KEY Google AI Studio key
gemini-cli ~/.gemini/oauth_creds.json gemini-cli OAuth
xai XAI_API_KEY xAI API key
openrouter OPENROUTER_API_KEY OpenRouter API key
zen ZEN_API_KEY optional empty is valid for free tier

Examples:

term-llm ask --provider anthropic "question"
term-llm ask --provider chatgpt "question"
term-llm ask --provider copilot "question"
term-llm ask --provider gemini-cli "question"

OpenAI-compatible providers

For local or custom backends, use type: openai_compatible.

providers:
  ollama:
    type: openai_compatible
    base_url: http://localhost:11434/v1
    model: llama3.2:latest

  lmstudio:
    type: openai_compatible
    base_url: http://localhost:1234/v1
    model: deepseek-coder-v2

  cerebras:
    type: openai_compatible
    base_url: https://api.cerebras.ai/v1
    model: llama-4-scout-17b
    api_key: ${CEREBRAS_API_KEY}

Use base_url when the standard /chat/completions path should be appended automatically. Use url when you need to specify the full chat completions endpoint directly.

Reasoning and model suffixes

OpenAI reasoning effort

For OpenAI models, append -low, -medium, -high, or -xhigh to control reasoning effort.

term-llm ask --provider openai:gpt-5.2-xhigh "complex question"
term-llm exec --provider openai:gpt-5.2-low "quick task"

providers:
  openai:
    model: gpt-5.2-high
Effort Meaning
low faster, cheaper, less thorough
medium balanced default
high more thorough reasoning
xhigh maximum reasoning on supported models

Anthropic extended thinking

For Anthropic models, append -thinking:

term-llm ask --provider anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-6-thinking "complex question"

providers:
  anthropic:
    model: claude-sonnet-4-6-thinking

Native search support

Some providers support native web search. Others rely on external search tooling.

Native support is most relevant for:

  • Anthropic
  • OpenAI
  • xAI
  • Gemini

You can override behavior with:

term-llm ask "latest news" -s --native-search
term-llm ask "latest news" -s --no-native-search

Or in config:

search:
  force_external: true

providers:
  gemini:
    use_native_search: false

See Search for the full routing model.

Recommendations by use case

  • fast free experimentation: zen
  • OpenAI ecosystem / Codex editing: openai
  • Claude models with OAuth: anthropic
  • broad model access: openrouter
  • local inference: ollama or another OpenAI-compatible endpoint
  • subscription-backed consumer access: chatgpt, copilot, or gemini-cli