| name | extension-inference |
| description | MANDATORY recipe for every Caffeine build that calls an LLM, chatbot, GPT, or ChatGPT **on Caffeine Inference** (no user-pasted OpenAI key). The ONLY supported path is the `caffeineai-inference-client` mops package with `Config.fromEnv<system>()`, which hands the canister a ready-to-use authenticated config — the app never asks for, stores, or returns a key. Hand-rolling `ic.http_request` to `inference.caffeine.ai` (or `api.openai.com`) is a FORBIDDEN anti-pattern. Load this skill whenever the user, spec, or any prior task wants an LLM in a Caffeine app — and BEFORE writing any code that talks to an LLM host. Use `extension-openai` only when the spec explicitly requires a user- or admin-pasted `sk-...` key against `api.openai.com`. |
| version | 0.1.0 |
| compatibility | {"mops":{"caffeineai-inference-client":"~0.1.0"}} |
| caffeineai-subscription | ["none"] |
Caffeine Inference
LLM extension for Caffeine AI.
Orchestrator routing notes
Treat “use an LLM / GPT / chatbot / summarise with AI” as a first-class
platform feature. The default path is Caffeine Inference: an
OpenAI-compatible chat endpoint that Caffeine hosts, authenticates, and bills
for the app. The canister gets its credentials from the platform at runtime;
nobody pastes an API key, and the app never stores or returns one.
| User intent | Capability |
|---|
| Chat / summarise / classify with an LLM in a Caffeine app | caffeineai-inference-client ChatApi.createChatCompletion via this skill |
Call api.openai.com with a user-pasted sk-... | extension-openai only |
Do not load extension-openai for a normal Caffeine-app LLM. Do not
ask the user for an OpenAI API key. Do not add setApiKey endpoints, a
key-settings page, or a model picker.
Backend
1. Add caffeineai-inference-client to mops.toml
mops add caffeineai-inference-client@0.1.0
Requires Mops ≥ 2.13. Minimum version: caffeineai-inference-client ≥ 0.1.0.
2. Config comes from the platform
Config.fromEnv<system>() returns a complete Config — endpoint, bearer, and
is_replicated = ?false — from the credentials the platform provisions for the
app. There is no key to collect and nothing to configure.
- Call
fromEnv<system>() inside the shared method, or in a
<system>-parameterised helper, on every request. A module-level
let config = fromEnv will not compile, and a cached Config can go stale
when the platform rotates credentials on a running canister.
- It traps when the app has no inference credentials. That is a platform
condition, not something the app can fix — do not add a "configure AI"
empty state or a key-input fallback for it.
- Never log the
Config, never copy its auth into actor state, and never
return it (or any part of it) from a query / shared function.
3. is_replicated = ?false is REQUIRED
fromEnv already sets this. Do not override it to ?true or null.
- Security. A replicated outcall sends the bearer from every replica.
- Billing. Replicated outcalls multiply inference spend by subnet size.
- Determinism. LLM bodies are sampled; consensus would fail.
4. Canonical layout
import Inference "lib/inference";
actor {
public shared func chat(prompt : Text) : async Text {
await* Inference.runChat<system>(prompt);
};
};
import { fromEnv } "mo:caffeineai-inference-client/Config";
import ChatApi "mo:caffeineai-inference-client/Apis/ChatApi";
import ChatCompletionRequest "mo:caffeineai-inference-client/Models/ChatCompletionRequest";
import ChatCompletionRequestMessageOneOf2 "mo:caffeineai-inference-client/Models/ChatCompletionRequestMessageOneOf2";
import Runtime "mo:core/Runtime";
module {
public func runChat<system>(prompt : Text) : async* Text {
let config = fromEnv<system>();
let userMessage = ChatCompletionRequestMessageOneOf2.JSON.init({
content = #string(prompt);
role = #user;
});
let req = ChatCompletionRequest.JSON.init({
messages = [#user(userMessage)];
model = "router";
});
let resp = await* ChatApi.createChatCompletion(config, req);
if (resp.choices.size() == 0) {
Runtime.trap("Inference returned no choices");
};
resp.choices[0].message.content
?? Runtime.trap("Inference returned no text content");
};
};
5. model = "router" — the platform picks the model
"router" is the only public model id, and it is a routing tier rather than a
model name. Caffeine Inference sizes each request to the complexity of the
query — a small fast model for simple prompts, a stronger one for hard
reasoning — and reports "router" back as the response model, so provider
names never reach the app.
- Always send
model = "router".
- Do not add a model dropdown, a "use GPT-4" toggle, or a
model parameter on
the backend endpoint. There is nothing for the user to choose.
- Steer quality with the prompt and with the declared sampling fields
(
temperature, top_p, max_completion_tokens), not with model selection.
6. Call shapes
- Function form:
ChatApi.createChatCompletion(config, req) : async* — use await*.
- Suite form:
let api = ChatApi(config); api.createChatCompletion(req) : async.
7. Available API surface — chat completions
caffeineai-inference-client@0.1.0 is generated from
public-api-v0.1.0:
| Module | Entry point | Route |
|---|
ChatApi | createChatCompletion | POST /v1/chat/completions |
ModelsApi | listModels | GET /v1/models — catalog only; the model is always "router", so an app never needs this |
import ChatApi "mo:caffeineai-inference-client/Apis/ChatApi";
import { fromEnv } "mo:caffeineai-inference-client/Config";
Chat completions are the whole product surface. Not available on this host
(404, and not in the package): embeddings, images, audio, moderations, files,
legacy completions, Assistants, Responses, and raw ic.http_request. If the
spec genuinely needs an OpenAI-only API with a pasted sk-..., switch to
extension-openai.
8. Cycles
defaultConfig.cycles = 30_000_000_000. Bump for long completions:
{ fromEnv<system>() with cycles = 100_000_000_000 }
Streaming (stream = ?true) is unsupported — management-canister HTTP returns
the full body. Leave stream = null.
9. Things that will bite you
- Call
fromEnv<system>() inside the shared method (or a <system> helper). A module-level let config = fromEnv will not compile.
model = "router" — not "gpt-4o-mini". See §5.
- User turns are
#user(ChatCompletionRequestMessageOneOf2.JSON.init({ content = #string(prompt); role = #user })).
JSON.init for required fields; layer optionals with record update. Do not hand-list every null.
resp.choices[0].message.content is ?Text. Check choices.size() first.
- One chat call is one HTTP outcall inside an update call: budget seconds, not milliseconds.
Frontend
The app is ready to chat on first load — there is nothing to configure.
- No API-key UI. No settings page, no password input, no "configured?"
indicator, no localStorage. If a spec or mock shows an "AI settings"
screen, drop it.
- No model picker. See §5.
- Call the backend chat endpoint (
chat(prompt)) and render the returned
text. There is no frontend LLM SDK — the canister is the client, so the
credentials never reach the browser.
- Show a pending state while the call is in flight (an outcall round-trip
takes seconds) and surface a retry on trap.