| name | agf-wiring-multi-llm-sdk |
| description | Use when wiring up or switching between China-domestic LLM providers (DeepSeek, Doubao/Volc Ark, Qwen/DashScope, MiniMax). Provides OpenAI-compatible adapter pattern, env-var contracts, fallback strategy, cost guardrails, and minimum verifications before declaring integration done. |
Wiring Multi-LLM SDK (DeepSeek / Doubao / Qwen / MiniMax)
Use this skill when:
- You add a new LLM provider to
backend/app/agents/ or any backend module
- You switch the default provider (e.g. DeepSeek → Doubao for cost reasons)
- You wire fallback / retry logic between providers
- You suspect a provider mismatch is the cause of a bug
Decision: which SDK style?
All four providers expose OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Default to the openai Python SDK with a custom base_url rather than each vendor's bespoke SDK — fewer dependencies, easier to swap, less drift.
Bespoke SDK exceptions:
- Doubao multimodal (image/video gen): use
volcengine-python-sdk for Ark image API
- MiniMax video / TTS: use
minimax official SDK
- Streaming nuance: confirm OAI-compat client handles vendor's stream chunk format
Before wiring any SDK, pull its current docs via Context7 (resolve-library-id → query-docs) — all four vendors iterate fast and training-data memory of their APIs is likely stale. Context7 coverage of domestic SDKs varies; if a library isn't indexed, fall back to WebFetch on official docs.
Env var contract (locked)
All providers follow the same pattern. Never hardcode keys. Each is read from environment at module init; a missing key raises early.
| Provider | Endpoint env | Key env | Default model env |
|---|
| DeepSeek | DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL (default https://api.deepseek.com/v1) | DEEPSEEK_API_KEY | DEEPSEEK_MODEL (e.g. deepseek-chat) |
| Doubao (Volc Ark) | ARK_BASE_URL (default https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3) | ARK_API_KEY | ARK_MODEL_ENDPOINT_ID (vendor-specific endpoint id, NOT model name) |
| Qwen (DashScope) | DASHSCOPE_BASE_URL (default https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1) | DASHSCOPE_API_KEY | QWEN_MODEL (e.g. qwen-plus) |
| MiniMax | MINIMAX_BASE_URL (default https://api.minimaxi.com/v1) | MINIMAX_API_KEY | MINIMAX_MODEL (e.g. abab6.5s-chat) |
Doubao gotcha: the "model name" in OAI-compat call is actually the Ark endpoint id (ep-2024xxxx), not a public model id like doubao-pro-32k. Get the endpoint id from Volc Ark console.
Adapter skeleton (Python / FastAPI)
import os
from openai import OpenAI
def get_client(provider: str) -> tuple[OpenAI, str]:
if provider == "deepseek":
return OpenAI(
api_key=os.environ["DEEPSEEK_API_KEY"],
base_url=os.getenv("DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL", "https://api.deepseek.com/v1"),
), os.getenv("DEEPSEEK_MODEL", "deepseek-chat")
if provider == "doubao":
return OpenAI(
api_key=os.environ["ARK_API_KEY"],
base_url=os.getenv("ARK_BASE_URL", "https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3"),
), os.environ["ARK_MODEL_ENDPOINT_ID"]
if provider == "qwen":
return OpenAI(
api_key=os.environ["DASHSCOPE_API_KEY"],
base_url=os.getenv("DASHSCOPE_BASE_URL", "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1"),
), os.getenv("QWEN_MODEL", "qwen-plus")
if provider == "minimax":
return OpenAI(
api_key=os.environ["MINIMAX_API_KEY"],
base_url=os.getenv("MINIMAX_BASE_URL", "https://api.minimaxi.com/v1"),
), os.getenv("MINIMAX_MODEL", "abab6.5s-chat")
raise ValueError(f"unknown provider: {provider}")
Fallback strategy
Default order (tunable in CLAUDE.md per project): DeepSeek → Doubao → Qwen → MiniMax.
- 5xx / network → next provider
- 4xx (auth / quota) → DO NOT failover; raise (signals config bug)
- Latency P95 breach (> 5s for non-streaming) → tier down silently, log warning
Implement with tenacity retry + a thin orchestrator that walks the list. Never silently swap models without telemetry — every failover emits a structured log line per observability.md.
Token + cost telemetry
Every call must record the LLM fields mandated by observability.md:17 plus provider. DeepSeek + Doubao support prompt caching — read cache_hit_ratio off the response usage object.
Verifications before "done"
Before claiming the integration works, run this checklist explicitly. Verify outputs match expectations — do not assume.
Anti-patterns
- ❌ Hardcoding
base_url strings — always read from env
- ❌ Passing public model id to Doubao — use endpoint id
- ❌ Catching all exceptions and returning empty string — masks auth failures and quota issues
- ❌ Assuming all providers return the same
usage shape — validate and normalize
- ❌ Storing keys in CLAUDE.md / settings.json — only
.env (gitignored) or secret manager
References
