nodetool-model-provider-config

name	nodetool-model-provider-config
description	Configure AI model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, HuggingFace, FAL, Replicate), set up API keys, choose models by task, run local inference with llama.cpp/MLX. Use when user asks about models, providers, API keys, which model to use, or configure any AI provider.

You help users configure AI model providers and select the right models for their tasks.

Provider Overview

Provider	Type	Key Env Var	Models
OpenAI	Cloud	OPENAI_API_KEY	GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4-mini, GPT-Image, TTS, Whisper
Anthropic	Cloud	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Claude Sonnet 4.6, Haiku
Gemini (Google)	Cloud	GEMINI_API_KEY	Gemini 2.5, Veo, Nano Banana
xAI	Cloud	XAI_API_KEY	Grok 4
Ollama	Local	OLLAMA_API_URL	Qwen, Llama 3, Mistral, any GGUF
HuggingFace	Local/Cloud	HF_TOKEN	1000+ models, auto-download
FAL	Cloud	FAL_API_KEY	Fast image/video generation
Replicate	Cloud	REPLICATE_API_TOKEN	Community models
vLLM	Local	VLLM_API_URL	Self-hosted, OpenAI-compatible
llama.cpp	Local	—	GGUF models, CPU/GPU
MLX	Local	—	Apple Silicon optimized

Other registered chat providers (any of these is valid for -p/--provider): groq, mistral, deepseek, moonshot, minimax, cerebras, alibaba (DASHSCOPE_API_KEY, Qwen via Alibaba Cloud Model Studio), together, openrouter, codex, claude_agent_sdk, lmstudio. Run nodetool models providers to see configured providers and nodetool models recommended for the curated model list.

API Key Setup

# Via CLI (encrypted storage)
nodetool secrets store OPENAI_API_KEY
nodetool secrets store ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
nodetool secrets store GEMINI_API_KEY
nodetool secrets store HF_TOKEN
nodetool secrets store FAL_API_KEY
nodetool secrets store REPLICATE_API_TOKEN

# Via environment variables
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
export GEMINI_API_KEY=AI...
export HF_TOKEN=hf_...
export FAL_API_KEY=...
export REPLICATE_API_TOKEN=r8_...
export OLLAMA_API_URL=http://localhost:11434

Model Selection by Task

Language / Chat

Need	Model	Provider	Notes
Best quality	gpt-5.4, claude-sonnet-4-6	OpenAI, Anthropic	Highest capability
Good balance	gpt-5.4-mini, gemini-2.5-flash	OpenAI, Gemini	Fast + cheap
Local/private	Llama 3.3 70B, Qwen 3.5	Ollama	No data leaves machine
Lightweight local	Llama 3 8B, Mistral 7B	Ollama	Low memory
Code	claude-sonnet-4-6, gpt-5.4	Anthropic, OpenAI	Best for coding

Image Generation

Need	Model	Provider	Notes
Best quality	FLUX.2 Dev	HuggingFace, FAL	State-of-art
Fast	FLUX Schnell	HuggingFace	Quick iterations
Versatile	SDXL	HuggingFace	Many LoRAs available
API-based	GPT Image 2, Nano Banana	OpenAI, Gemini/KIE	No local GPU needed

Video Generation

Need	Model	Provider
Best quality	Sora 2 Pro	OpenAI (KIE)
Fast	Wan 2.6	KIE
Image-to-video	Kling 2.6	KIE
Talking avatar	Kling AI Avatar	KIE

Speech & Audio

Need	Model	Provider
TTS (quality)	ElevenLabs	ElevenLabs
TTS (fast/free)	Whisper TTS	HuggingFace
ASR (accuracy)	Whisper Large V3	HuggingFace
ASR (fast)	Whisper Turbo	HuggingFace

Embeddings

Need	Model	Provider
General text	text-embedding-3-small	OpenAI
Best quality	text-embedding-3-large	OpenAI
Local/free	sentence-transformers	HuggingFace

Local Model Setup

Ollama (Easiest)

# Install
curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh

# Pull models
ollama pull llama3
ollama pull mistral
ollama pull qwen2

# Verify
ollama list

# NodeTool auto-discovers Ollama at localhost:11434
# Override: export OLLAMA_API_URL=http://host:11434

HuggingFace (Auto-Download)

Models auto-download to ~/.cache/huggingface/ on first use.

For gated models:

1. Accept terms on HuggingFace Hub
2. Set HF_TOKEN
3. Model downloads automatically

llama.cpp

Manual GGUF model loading. Best for CPU inference and quantized models.

MLX (Apple Silicon only)

Optimized for M1/M2/M3 chips. Lower memory usage than standard PyTorch.

Local Inference Performance

Framework	Throughput	Memory	Hardware
llama.cpp	Medium	Excellent	CPU, GPU
MLX	Good	Excellent	Apple Silicon
Nunchaku	Excellent	Excellent	NVIDIA GPU
Transformers	Medium	Good	Any

Provider-Agnostic Nodes

These nodes work with any provider — just select the model:

Node	Purpose
nodetool.agents.Agent	Any LLM for chat/reasoning
nodetool.image.TextToImage	Any image generation model
nodetool.image.ImageToImage	Any image transformation model
nodetool.video.TextToVideo	Any video generation model
nodetool.video.ImageToVideo	Any image-to-video model
nodetool.audio.TextToSpeech	Any TTS model
nodetool.text.AutomaticSpeechRecognition	Any ASR model

Custom Provider Development

Providers extend BaseProvider from @nodetool-ai/runtime (not @nodetool-ai/core). Both generateMessage and generateMessages take a single args object.

import {
  BaseProvider,
  type ProviderId,
  type Message,
  type ProviderStreamItem,
  type ProviderTool,
  type LanguageModel,
} from "@nodetool-ai/runtime";

export class MyProvider extends BaseProvider {
  private apiKey: string;

  constructor(kwargs: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {
    super("my_provider" as ProviderId);
    this.apiKey = String(kwargs["MY_API_KEY"] ?? process.env.MY_API_KEY ?? "");
  }

  static override requiredSecrets(): string[] {
    return ["MY_API_KEY"];
  }

  // Non-streaming: return a single assistant Message.
  async generateMessage(args: {
    messages: Message[];
    : ;
    ?: [];
  }): <> {
    
     { : , :  };
  }

  
   *(: {
    : [];
    : ;
    ?: [];
  }): <> {
     { : , : , :  };
  }

    (): <[]> {
     [{ : , : , :  }];
  }
}

Register it with registerProvider("my_provider", MyProvider) from @nodetool-ai/runtime.

Provider Capabilities

Capability	OpenAI	Anthropic	Google	Ollama	HF
Chat/Text	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Vision	yes	yes	yes	some	yes
Image Gen	yes (GPT-Image)	no	no	no	yes
Video Gen	no	no	yes (Veo)	no	some
TTS	yes	no	no	no	yes
ASR	yes (Whisper)	no	no	no	yes
Embeddings	yes	no	yes	yes	yes
Tool Calling	yes	yes	yes	some	no

Common Pitfalls

• Wrong key env var name: Each provider has a specific name (see table above)
• Ollama not running: Start with ollama serve before using
• Gated HF models: Must accept terms on hub.huggingface.co first
• GPU memory: Large models need 8-24GB VRAM; use quantized versions
• Rate limits: Cloud providers have rate limits; implement retries or use local
• Model ID mismatch: Use the exact model ID from the provider (e.g., gpt-5.4, claude-sonnet-4-6) — nodetool models by-provider <provider> lists them