Models

Administrators configure LLM providers and models from the Coder dashboard. Providers, models, and centrally managed credentials are deployment-wide settings managed by platform teams. Developers select from the set of models that an administrator has enabled.

Optionally, administrators can allow developers to supply their own API keys for specific providers. See User API keys below.

Providers

Each LLM provider has a type, a credential configuration, and an optional base URL override.

Coder supports the following provider types:

The OpenAI Compatible type is a catch-all for any service that exposes an OpenAI-compatible chat completions endpoint. Use it to connect to self-hosted models, internal gateways, or third-party proxies like LiteLLM.

Add a provider

1. Navigate to the Agents page in the Coder dashboard.
2. Open Settings > Manage Agents and select the Providers tab.
3. Click the provider you want to configure.
4. Enter the API key for the provider, if required.
5. Optionally set a Base URL to override the default endpoint. This is useful for enterprise proxies, regional endpoints, or self-hosted models.
6. Click Save.

The providers list shows all supported providers and their configuration status.

Adding a provider usually requires an API key. AWS Bedrock can also use ambient AWS credentials. The base URL is optional.

Configuring AWS Bedrock

AWS Bedrock supports two credential modes for Agents providers:

• Bearer token mode: Enter a Bedrock-compatible bearer token in the API key field when you add the provider.
• Ambient AWS credentials mode: Leave the API key field empty. The Coder server resolves credentials from the standard AWS SDK credential chain, including IAM instance roles and AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID / AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY environment variables.

Region comes from the standard AWS SDK configuration. In most deployments, set AWS_REGION on the Coder server. Bearer token mode falls back to us-east-1 when no region is configured. Ambient credentials require a region from the standard AWS SDK chain, for example AWS_REGION.

The Base URL field overrides the Bedrock runtime endpoint. Use it for custom endpoints or VPC endpoints.

Provider credentials and security

Provider API keys entered in the dashboard are stored encrypted in the Coder database. They are never exposed to workspaces, developers, or the browser after initial entry. The dashboard shows only whether a key is set, not the key itself.

When a provider uses ambient credentials, Coder resolves them from the server environment at request time instead of storing a secret in the database.

Because the agent loop runs in the control plane, workspaces never need direct access to LLM providers. See Architecture for details on this security model.

Key policy

Each provider has three policy flags that control how provider credentials are sourced:

At least one credential source must be enabled. These settings appear in the provider configuration form under Key policy.

The interaction between these flags determines whether a provider is available to a given developer:

When a developer's personal key is present, it always takes precedence over deployment-managed credentials. When user keys are required and fallback is disabled, the provider is unavailable to developers who have not saved a personal key, even if deployment-managed credentials exist. This is intentional: it enforces that each developer authenticates with their own credentials.

Models

Each model belongs to a provider and has its own configuration for context limits, generation parameters, and provider-specific options.

Add a model

1. Open Settings > Manage Agents and select the Models tab.
2. Click Add and select the provider for the new model.
3. Enter the Model Identifier — the exact model string your provider expects (e.g., claude-opus-4-6, gpt-5.3-codex).
4. Set a Display Name so developers see a human-readable label in the model selector.
5. Set the Context Limit — the maximum number of tokens in the model's context window (e.g., 200000 for Claude Sonnet).
6. Configure any provider-specific options (see below).
7. Click Save.

The models list shows all configured models grouped by provider.

Adding a model requires a model identifier, display name, and context limit. Provider-specific options appear dynamically based on the selected provider.

Set a default model

Click the star icon next to a model in the models list to make it the default. The default model is pre-selected when developers start a new chat. Only one model can be the default at a time.

Model options

Every model has a set of general options and provider-specific options. The admin UI generates these fields automatically from the provider's configuration schema, so the available options always match the provider type.

General options

These options apply to all providers:

Provider-specific options

Each provider type exposes additional options relevant to its models. These fields appear dynamically in the admin UI when you select a provider.

Anthropic

OpenAI

Google

OpenRouter

Vercel AI Gateway

How developers select models

Developers see a model selector dropdown when starting or continuing a chat on the Agents page. The selector shows only models from providers that have valid credentials configured. Models are grouped by provider if multiple providers are active.

The model selector uses the following precedence to pre-select a model:

1. Last used model — stored in the browser's local storage.
2. Admin-designated default — the model marked with the star icon.
3. First available model — if no default is set and no history exists.

Developers cannot add their own providers or models. If no models are configured, the chat interface displays a message directing developers to contact an administrator.

Model overrides

Beyond the chat-level model picker, Coder Agents supports two override layers:

• Subagent overrides (admin, deployment-wide): Pin specific subagent contexts to a particular model. Configure them at Agents > Settings > Manage Agents > Agents.
• Personal overrides (per user, opt-in by admin): Let users override the model for their own root chats and delegated subagents. Admins enable the toggle on the same admin page; once on, each user sees an Agents tab in their personal Agents > Settings.

The configurable contexts:

Resolution order, evaluated per chat or subagent:

1. Personal override (when the admin gate is on and a model is set).
2. Admin subagent override.
3. The chat's selected model (or the deployment default for new chats).

If a referenced model is later disabled or deleted, that layer is skipped and resolution falls through to the next.

User API keys (BYOK)

When an administrator enables Allow user API keys on a provider, developers can supply their own API key from the Agents settings page.

Managing personal API keys

1. Navigate to the Agents page in the Coder dashboard.
2. Open Settings and select the API Keys tab.
3. Each provider that allows user keys is listed with a status indicator:
   • Key saved — your personal key is active and will be used for requests.
   • Using shared key — no personal key set, but the central deployment key is available as a fallback.
   • No key — you must add a personal key before you can use this provider.
4. Enter your API key and click Save.

Personal API keys are encrypted at rest using the same database encryption used for deployment-managed provider secrets. The dashboard never displays a saved key, only whether one is set.

How key selection works

When you start a chat, the control plane resolves which credential source to use for each provider:

1. If you have a personal key for the provider, it is used.
2. If you do not have a personal key and central key fallback is enabled, deployment-managed credentials are used.
3. If you do not have a personal key and fallback is disabled, the provider is unavailable to you. Models from that provider will not appear in the model selector.

Removing a personal key

Click Remove on the provider card in the API Keys settings tab. If central key fallback is enabled, subsequent requests will use the shared deployment-managed credentials. If fallback is disabled, the provider becomes unavailable until you add a new personal key.

Using an LLM proxy

Organizations that route LLM traffic through a centralized proxy — such as Coder's AI Gateway or third parties like LiteLLM — can point any provider's Base URL at their proxy endpoint.

For example, to route all OpenAI traffic through Coder's AI Gateway:

1. Add or edit the OpenAI provider.
2. Set the Base URL to your AI Gateway endpoint (e.g., https://example.coder.com/api/v2/aibridge/openai/v1).
3. Enter the API key your proxy expects.

Alternatively, use the OpenAI Compatible provider type if your proxy serves multiple model families through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

This lets you keep existing proxy-level features like per-user budgets, rate limiting, and audit logging while using Coder Agents as the developer interface.