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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kode-f177b001.mintlify.app/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Kode supports 25+ AI providers and ships with its own gateway at api.trykode.xyz for unified, zero-friction access to the best models across OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google, and OpenRouter. You configure your provider once — in kode.json or via environment variables — and Kode handles routing, streaming, and key management automatically.

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The Kode Gateway

The Kode Gateway is the default provider. It is a routing layer that sits in front of multiple upstream providers and exposes a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint. You authenticate with one key (KODE_LLM_API_KEY) and the gateway handles dispatch to the right upstream model. The gateway is pre-configured in every kode init output:
.kode/kode.json
{
  "providers": {
    "primary": "kode",
    "gateway_url": "https://api.trykode.xyz"
  }
}
To authenticate, set your API key: 
export KODE_LLM_API_KEY=your-kode-api-key
The gateway routes to OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google, and OpenRouter based on the model you select in kode.json. You do not need individual provider keys when using the gateway.

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Gateway tiers

TierHow to activateRate limitModels
Lite (free)No key required — use "public"20 requests / day / IPdeepseek-v4-flash, nvidia/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b:free
ProSet KODE_PRO_API_KEYUnlimiteddeepseek-v4-pro, deepseek-r1, and all Lite models
The Lite tier is rate-limited at the gateway level. When you exceed 20 requests per day, the gateway returns a rate limit error explaining that your daily Lite quota has been reached. Set KODE_PRO_API_KEY or upgrade at trykode.xyz/pricing to remove the limit.

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Using a direct provider

If you prefer to call a provider’s API directly — bypassing the Kode Gateway — set model in kode.json to the provider/model string for your chosen model and export the corresponding API key environment variable.
1

Set the model in kode.json

Edit .kode/kode.json and set the model field to the provider/model string. For example, to use Claude Sonnet 4.6 directly via Anthropic:
.kode/kode.json
{
  "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "small_model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5"
}
2

Export the provider API key

Set the environment variable corresponding to your chosen provider:
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
3

Run Kode

Kode picks up the key and routes directly to the provider:
kode run "add input validation to the login handler"

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Supported model strings

Use these strings in the model and small_model fields of your kode.json:
ProviderModel stringNotes
Anthropicanthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6Default — recommended for most tasks
Anthropicanthropic/claude-haiku-4-5Fast and cheap; default small_model
OpenAIopenai/gpt-4oPowerful, widely supported
OpenAIopenai/o3-miniFast reasoning model
Googlegoogle/gemini-2.0-flashFast and cost-effective
Groqgroq/llama-3.3-70b-versatileVery fast inference via Groq hardware
DeepSeekdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flashFast reasoning, strong coding
DeepSeekdeepseek/deepseek-r1Deep chain-of-thought reasoning
Run kode models to see every model string available for your configured providers, including metadata such as input and output cost per million tokens.

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Provider management CLI

The TypeScript CLI layer exposes providers and models subcommands for managing credentials and browsing available models. These commands are forwarded automatically from the kode binary:

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Credentials

# Show all configured providers and their auth status
kode providers list

# Interactively log in to a provider (stores credential in ~/.kode/auth.json)
kode providers login

# Log in to a specific provider directly, skipping the selection prompt
kode providers login --provider anthropic

# Remove a stored credential
kode providers logout

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Models

# List all available models across configured providers
kode models

# Filter to a single provider
kode models --provider anthropic

# Show verbose output including cost metadata
kode models --verbose

# Refresh the model catalog cache from models.dev
kode models --refresh
Credentials stored via kode providers login are saved to ~/.kode/auth.json. Environment variables (e.g. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) are detected automatically by kode providers list and shown alongside stored credentials. Environment variables always take precedence over stored credentials at runtime.

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Pointing Kode at a local model

You can run Kode against any OpenAI-compatible local inference server — Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, vLLM, and others all work. Override the endpoint and model via environment variables: 
# Ollama with Llama 3.1 8B
export KODE_LLM_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:11434/v1
export KODE_LLM_MODEL=llama3.1:8b
export KODE_LLM_API_KEY=ollama   # Ollama accepts any non-empty key

kode run "refactor the auth middleware"

# vLLM serving Mistral
export KODE_LLM_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:8000/v1
export KODE_LLM_MODEL=mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.3
export KODE_LLM_API_KEY=token-abc123

kode run "write unit tests for the payment service"
Local models vary widely in instruction-following quality. Kode’s verification pipeline (blast-radius checks, TDD gating, SAST scanning) still runs against the output, so bad patches are caught before reaching disk — but expect more retries and self-correction cycles with smaller models.

kode.json reference

Full reference for all model, engine, and permission settings.

Environment Variables

Complete list of environment variables including all provider key names.