Providers

A provider is your account with a company that runs AI models, such as OpenAI or Anthropic, together with the model you want to use. Every sub-agent thinks with a provider, so an agent cannot run without one. This page explains how providers work. To add one, see Manage LLM providers.

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Your account, not ours

ServFlow does not come with a model. You bring a key from the model company, and that company bills you for what your agents use. That includes test runs from the editor. ServFlow can talk to five kinds of provider: Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter, LiteLLM, and Qwen. OpenRouter and LiteLLM are services that give access to many companies’ models through one account.

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One provider, many sub-agents

You set a provider up once. Each sub-agent then chooses one. Most instances need only one or two providers.

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The model belongs to the provider

A sub-agent’s panel has a Provider setting and no model setting, because the model is part of the provider. To run a quick, low-cost model for a simple stage and a stronger one for a hard stage, add two providers with the same key and different models. Then choose between them in each sub-agent:

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Changes apply from the next run

When you change a provider’s key or model, every agent that uses it follows on its next run. You do not reopen or save the agents.

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If a provider is deleted

ServFlow lets you delete a provider that agents still use. Those agents then fail when they next run. Point them at another provider first.

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Keeping the key safe

The key is kept with the provider. It is hidden as you type it and is left out of lists. It is not a stored secret, so you will not find it on the Secrets page. If you run your own instance, you can have ServFlow encrypt stored keys. See the Configuration reference.

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Providers in the dashboard

Providers, in the sidebar under Configure, lists your providers, and New Provider adds one. To choose a provider for a sub-agent, open the sub-agent and pick it under Provider.

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