Models

Administrators configure LLM providers and models from the Coder dashboard. These are deployment-wide settings — developers do not manage API keys or provider configuration. They select from the set of models that an administrator has enabled.

Providers

Each LLM provider has a type, an API key, 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. Click Admin in the top bar to open the configuration dialog.
3. Select the Providers tab.
4. Click the provider you want to configure.
5. Enter the API key for the provider.
6. Optionally set a Base URL to override the default endpoint. This is useful for enterprise proxies, regional endpoints, or self-hosted models.
7. Click Save.

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

Adding a provider requires an API key. The base URL is optional.

Provider API keys and security

Provider API keys 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.

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.

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 the Admin dialog 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 API keys 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, models, or API keys. If no models are configured, the chat interface displays a message directing developers to contact an administrator.

Using an LLM proxy

Organizations that route LLM traffic through a centralized proxy — such as Coder's AI Bridge 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 Bridge:

1. Add or edit the OpenAI provider.
2. Set the Base URL to your AI Bridge 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.