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Model Providers

Provider choice affects auth, cost, latency, context length, and tool behavior. Stabilize one provider and one model before adding fallback, routing, or more complex model combinations.

RecordWhy it matters
ProviderExplains auth and billing.
ModelExplains quality, context, and cost.
Key sourceExplains how deployment receives credentials.
FallbackExplains what happens on failure.

Provider configuration is part of the design

Section titled “Provider configuration is part of the design”

Model choice controls cost, latency, context length, reliability, and output style. Keep the active provider and model obvious in configuration or deployment notes.

DecisionRecord it because
ProviderIt explains credentials, billing, and rate limits.
ModelIt explains quality, context length, and cost.
FallbackIt changes failure behavior and can hide the primary error.
Evaluation promptIt gives you a quick way to compare future model changes.
Terminal window
# Example only: use the variable names required by your selected provider.
export OPENAI_API_KEY=...