add-cloud-model

name

add-cloud-model

description

Register a new OpenAI or Anthropic model in CTI Studio so it appears in the Workflow Agent configuration dropdown. Use this skill whenever the user says "add a model", "make gpt-X available", "why isn't model X in the dropdown", "register claude X", "add support for o4", "I want to use gpt-5-pro", or anything about making a specific cloud model selectable in the UI. Also use it when a new model has been released and the user wants to start using it in their pipelines.

Add Cloud Model

This skill registers a new OpenAI or Anthropic model so it shows up in the Workflow agent configuration dropdowns.

How the model list reaches the UI

The dropdown is built from config/provider_model_catalog.json. Every time load_catalog() runs (on each page load), it applies filters before returning the list:

• OpenAI: strips dated snapshots, non-chat models (audio/TTS/image/realtime/codex), then further narrows to an explicit project allowlist. Only models in the allowlist or matching gpt-5* appear in the dropdown.
• Anthropic: keeps one representative per model family — bare name preferred over -latest preferred over dated snapshot.

Important: When you save an API key in the Settings page, the app fetches the live model list from the provider's API and overwrites config/provider_model_catalog.json. The same filters run during that write. So:

• A manually-added OpenAI model that OpenAI's API doesn't return will be removed on next save.
• The allowlist is the durable gate — models in the allowlist survive refreshes because they're also returned by the API.
• Anthropic models behave the same way: survive if the API returns them, removed if not.

---

Quick decision guide

Adding an OpenAI model:

Model type	Files to change
Any gpt-5* variant	Catalog JSON + fallback catalog + context tokens (3 files)
o-series, gpt-4x, or anything else	Same 3 files + allowlist (4 files)
Reasoning model (no temperature support)	Same as above + reasoning prefixes (4-5 files)

Adding an Anthropic model:

Always: catalog JSON + fallback catalog + context tokens (3 files). The family deduplication filter runs automatically — no extra code needed.

---

Step 1 — Add to the live catalog

File: config/provider_model_catalog.json

Add the model ID string to the correct provider array. Keep it sorted.

{
  "openai": [
    "gpt-4.1",
    "gpt-4.1-mini",
    "new-model-id-here",
    ...
  ],
  "anthropic": [
    "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "new-model-id-here",
    ...
  ]
}

---

Step 2 — Add to the hardcoded fallback

File: src/services/provider_model_catalog.py

Find DEFAULT_CATALOG (around line 14). Add the same model ID to the matching provider list. This fallback is used on fresh installs or before the first API key is saved, when the catalog file may not exist yet.

---

Step 3 — Add the context window size

File: src/services/provider_model_catalog.py

Find MODEL_CONTEXT_TOKENS (around line 59). Add an entry with the model's context window in tokens. Check the provider's docs for the exact number.

Common values for reference:

Model family	Context tokens
OpenAI gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini	128,000
OpenAI gpt-4.1 / gpt-4.1-mini	1,047,576
OpenAI gpt-5.x	400,000 (verify — varies by variant)
OpenAI o-series (o1, o3, o4)	200,000
Anthropic claude-3.x through 4.x	200,000

If the exact value is unknown, you can skip this entry — get_model_context_tokens() will return None and the pipeline handles that gracefully.

---

Step 4 — OpenAI non-gpt-5 models only: add to the project allowlist

Skip this step for:

• Any Anthropic model
• Any gpt-5* model (those pass automatically via regex)

File: src/utils/model_validation.py

Find PROJECT_OPENAI_ALLOWLIST (around line 172). Add the model ID:

PROJECT_OPENAI_ALLOWLIST: frozenset[str] = frozenset(
    {
        "gpt-4o-mini",
        "gpt-4o",
        "gpt-4.1-mini",
        "gpt-4.1",
        "o3-mini",
        "o4-mini",
        "new-model-id-here",  # add here
    }
)

Without this, the model will be filtered out of the dropdown even if it is in the catalog.

---

Step 5 — OpenAI reasoning models only: add temperature prefix

Skip this step unless the model rejects the temperature API parameter. Reasoning models that require this: o1, o3, o4-mini, o4, gpt-5.x series. Check docs/llm/cloud-model-reference.md for the API parameter table if unsure.

File: src/utils/model_validation.py

Find _OPENAI_REASONING_PREFIXES (around line 53). Add the model's prefix:

_OPENAI_REASONING_PREFIXES: tuple[str, ...] = ("o1", "o3", "o4-mini", "o4-", "o4", "gpt-5", "new-prefix")

Prefixes use str.startswith(), so "o4" matches o4-mini and o4-pro. Put more specific prefixes before broader ones (e.g., "o4-mini" before "o4").

Without this, the pipeline will send temperature to a model that rejects it, causing a 400 error on every workflow run.

---

Verification

After making the changes:

1. Check the filtered list immediately (no restart needed) by calling:

   GET /api/workflow/provider-options
   

   Look for your model ID in providers.openai.models (or providers.anthropic.models).

2. Check the UI: Open Workflow config, click any agent, open the provider dropdown, select the provider, and confirm the new model appears.

3. For OpenAI reasoning models: run a quick test workflow with the model selected and verify no 400 temperature errors appear in the logs.

---

What to watch out for

• Catalog gets overwritten on API key save. If you manually add an OpenAI model that OpenAI's API doesn't return, it survives until the next Settings save, then disappears. The allowlist is the permanent gate, but you also need the model to actually exist in OpenAI's catalog.

• Anthropic family deduplication. If you add claude-sonnet-4-6-20260101 (a dated snapshot) alongside the existing claude-sonnet-4-6 (bare name), the filter will show only one of them — the bare name wins. Only add dated snapshots when you specifically need to pin to a frozen version (e.g., for eval baselines).

• Adding to allowlist but not catalog has no effect. The allowlist narrows what's already in the catalog — it doesn't add to it.