AI Providers and Models

AI Workflow · mixed

AITerm brings your own AI. It never proxies your requests through an AITerm server: local providers run entirely on your Mac, and cloud requests go straight from your Mac to the provider you configured, authenticated with your own account. You choose the provider in Settings ▸ LLM.

This page walks through every provider: what it is, how to set it up, where to get each value it asks for, and what to do when setup fails.

Built-in connection catalog

The connections below are offered out of the box. The list is generated from the app's own connection catalog, so it always matches the current build.

The built-in connection list below is generated from ConnectionCatalog.swift.

How your keys are stored

Local Ollama (Free)

Ollama runs open models directly on your Mac. It is the most private option: nothing leaves your computer.

Set it up:

  1. In onboarding, choose the Local (Ollama) option ("Download and run large language models on this Mac — entirely private, nothing leaves your computer"), or open Settings ▸ LLM and start the local engine setup.
  2. AITerm downloads a managed Ollama engine on demand. It does not download silently at launch — setup always happens behind an explicit action you take.
  3. On first setup it pulls a default model so you can start immediately.

If a compatible Ollama engine is already running on your Mac, AITerm can reuse it instead of installing its own.

Managing models: press ⌘⇧M to open the Model Manager. From there you can browse installed models, pull a new model by name (for example llama3 or mistral), delete models, and switch the active one. A RAM-aware "Recommended for your Mac" list suggests models that fit your memory.

If it won't start: the Local AI Engine panel in Settings ▸ LLM shows the status and offers Retry, reinstall, or update. Common causes it reports directly are a failed integrity check (use reinstall), not enough disk space (free space and retry), and being offline during a download (reconnect, or use a cloud key in the meantime).

BYOK cloud presets (Free)

"Bring your own key" presets cover OpenAI, Anthropic, and many OpenAI-compatible services (OpenRouter, Groq, DeepSeek, Mistral, xAI, Gemini, Perplexity, and more — see the generated catalog above). They are Free: you use your own provider account.

Set one up:

  1. In Settings ▸ LLM, pick the provider from the connection catalog.
  2. Paste your API key into the key field. It is saved to the Keychain.
  3. Pick a model. If the model list can't load, use the Retry button; you can still type a model id directly.

Where to get the key: from that provider's own account dashboard — for example your OpenAI account for an sk-... key, or your Anthropic console for an sk-ant-... key. AITerm does not issue these keys.

If a request fails to authenticate: the key is usually missing, mistyped, or expired. Re-open Settings ▸ LLM and re-enter it. AITerm fails closed on a missing key rather than silently falling back to another provider.

Custom OpenAI-compatible server (Free)

Point AITerm at any server that speaks the OpenAI API — a local LM Studio or llama.cpp instance, a self-hosted gateway, or a private endpoint.

Open the Custom OpenAI-compatible server sheet from Settings ▸ LLM and fill in:

Each custom server keeps its own key slot, so servers never share credentials.

Azure OpenAI (Pro)

Azure OpenAI is a Pro provider. Open the Azure OpenAI setup sheet from Settings ▸ LLM and fill in:

The resource name, deployment name, and key all come from the Azure Portal (the Azure OpenAI resource's Keys and Endpoint page, and its Deployments tab) — AITerm can't supply these. Save stays disabled until the resource, deployment, and key are all present.

Amazon Bedrock (Pro)

Amazon Bedrock is a Pro provider. Open the Amazon Bedrock setup sheet from Settings ▸ LLM:

The region, credentials, and model ids come from your AWS account (IAM for keys, the Bedrock console for model access). If Save is disabled, the sheet tells you exactly which field is missing (for example, "Enter an AWS region to enable Save." or "Enter a model or inference-profile id to enable Save.").

If a profile uses SSO and the session has expired, run aws sso login --profile <name> in a terminal, then retry.

Managed MLX (Pro, Apple silicon)

Managed MLX is a Pro, on-device engine tuned for Apple silicon. Like Ollama it runs locally and sends nothing off the machine, but it uses a curated, AITerm-managed engine.

Set it up:

  1. In Settings ▸ LLM choose MLX. AITerm asks to confirm the download ("Set up MLX (managed)?") — it is size-aware and never downloads silently.
  2. After the engine installs, the Choose an MLX model picker opens. A "Recommended for your Mac" section suggests models sized to your RAM; a model larger than your available memory is flagged as possibly slow.
  3. Pick a recommended model, choose one from the live list, or type any mlx-community repo id, e.g. mlx-community/Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct-4bit.

Model repo ids come from Hugging Face (the mlx-community organization). The provider is only adopted once the engine is actually reachable. If setup fails, the panel shows the cause and offers Retry or a cloud-key off-ramp.

CLI subscription delegation (Pro)

If you already pay for Claude Code or Codex, AITerm can delegate to the official CLI already installed on your Mac and use your existing subscription — no separate API key. These are Pro connections ("Claude Code (your subscription)" and "Codex (your subscription)").

Set it up:

  1. Install the official CLI (Claude Code or Codex) so it's on your PATH. If AITerm can't find it, it shows a prompt to set it up rather than switching.
  2. Select the connection in Settings ▸ LLM.
  3. Sign in when prompted — AITerm runs the CLI's own login in a terminal tab (claude /login for Claude Code, codex login for Codex). Authentication is handled entirely by the CLI; AITerm never sees a key.

If a request fails, the failure includes the CLI's own error output, which usually points at a sign-in or installation problem.

Switching providers and Pro status

You can switch providers at any time in Settings ▸ LLM. Switching to a cloud provider may show a one-time notice that this connection sends data off your Mac.

Pro providers (Azure, Bedrock, managed MLX, and the CLI-subscription connections) require an active Pro entitlement. If Pro lapses, AITerm falls back to a local provider rather than failing your session. See Free vs. Pro.

Model Manager

⌘⇧M opens the Model Manager for the active local provider — browse, pull, delete, and switch models without leaving AITerm.

Related pages: Settings Reference, Privacy and Data Handling, Getting Started.