Connect Models
Connecting an AI service is what puts models in Big-AGI: where to start, one key for many models, every service in the app, the model each job uses, and models on your own machines.
Big-AGI Models Index ->Browse documentation
22 providers
Alibaba CloudAnthropicAzure OpenAIAWS BedrockCerebrasCohereDeepseekGoogle GeminiGroqLM StudioLocalAIMistralMoonshot AINVIDIA NIMOllamaOpenAIOpenRouterPerplexitySakana AITogether AIxAIZ.aiBig-AGI starts empty: connecting an AI service is what fills it with models. One key from one service is enough to start: no minimum spend, and a second service costs nothing to add. A key is not a chat subscription: AI services sell their consumer chat product and their API as two accounts with two balances. A ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription therefore carries no key, and Anthropic states it directly. The key comes from the service's developer console, on its own balance.
Where to start
Open one of the four the app offers first: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini or OpenRouter. Want a specific vendor's own models - go to that vendor. Want the fewest steps to a working key - OpenRouter. Want to try without a payment method - Gemini has a FREE tier, on its own terms about what you send.
Those four are the Featured group in the add-service list, and the same four the first-run setup offers. Everything else is one click further. Three steps cover it: create the key in the service's console, paste it into Models (Ctrl + Shift + M), and that service's models fill the list - the signal it worked (your first chat).
One key, many models
An aggregator does exactly that, and OpenRouter is the one in the list: one account, one balance, a catalogue spanning the major vendors' models. Big-AGI carries a one-click handoff for it - Link OpenRouter Key in that panel sends you to OpenRouter to authorise and returns with the key installed. The trade is a middleman: one bill, one catalogue, and a list filtered to curated model families by default. A gift icon in the add-service list marks services that publish some models at no charge.
AI services in the app
Anything outside the wall that speaks the OpenAI API connects too: custom endpoints. Support for a new service is written in the open-source codebase first and reaches the hosted site on promotion.
The model for each job
Big-AGI assigns a model per job rather than per service, across everything you have connected:
| Job | Used for | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Chat | Conversations - changeable per message, before sending | Auto |
| Code | Applying code changes | Auto |
| Fast | Titles, summaries, small utility calls | Auto |
| Vision | Reading images | Auto |
Auto resolves the moment it is read, and a hand-curated pick wins where one exists. Pin a job with the Default / Model for buttons in a model's gear; the dropdown above a chat changes that chat only.
Models on your own machines
Ollama, LM Studio and LocalAI connect like any other service: point Big-AGI at the server's address, and its models join the same list - no key, no account, no per-token bill.
With Direct Connection off, the Big-AGI fast edge servers call the address you gave; a cloud server cannot reach an address on your computer. With it on, your browser calls the address directly - which is why the panel recommends it for local services.
Direct Connection works only with your API key stored in the browser, and with an AI service that permits direct browser calls (CORS). Where it cannot be used, requests route through the Big-AGI fast edge servers instead - everything still works, within the standard upload size and time limits.
Running locally gives you:
- No per-token bill - hardware and electricity instead.
- Work offline, with material that never leaves the machine.
- Nothing metered: a thousand turns cost what one costs.
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