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Provider Management

The lc CLI includes a powerful provider management system that separates provider configurations from sensitive API keys, enabling secure sharing and version control of provider setups.

Overview​

The provider management system offers:

  • Centralized Provider Registry: Browse and install pre-configured providers
  • Secure Key Management: API keys stored separately in keys.toml
  • Version Control Friendly: Share provider configs without exposing secrets
  • Automatic Updates: Keep provider configurations up-to-date
  • Multiple Auth Types: Support for API keys, OAuth, service accounts, and custom headers

Installing Providers​

Browse Available Providers​

View all available providers in the registry:

lc providers available
# or use the short alias
lc p av

Filter by official providers:

lc providers available --official

Filter by tags:

lc providers available --tag chat

Install a Provider​

Install a provider from the registry:

lc providers install openai
# or use the short alias
lc p i openai

Force reinstall (overwrites existing configuration):

lc providers install openai --force

List Installed Providers​

View all installed providers and their authentication status:

lc providers list
# or use the short alias
lc p l

Output example:

Configured Providers:
  • openai - https://api.openai.com/v1 (API Key: ✓)
  • anthropic - https://api.anthropic.com/v1 (API Key: ✗)
  • gemini - https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta (API Key: ✗)

Managing API Keys​

API keys and other credentials are stored separately from provider configurations in keys.toml, located in your config directory.

Add an API Key​

lc keys add openai
# You'll be prompted to enter the API key securely

List Providers with Keys​

lc keys list
# or use the short alias
lc k l

Remove an API Key​

lc keys remove openai
# or use the short alias
lc k r openai

Updating Providers​

Update a Specific Provider​

lc providers upgrade openai
# or use the short alias
lc p up openai

Update All Providers​

lc providers upgrade
# or use the short alias
lc p up

Uninstalling Providers​

Remove an installed provider:

lc providers uninstall openai
# or use the short alias
lc p un openai

Note: This removes the provider configuration but preserves the API key in keys.toml.

File Structure​

Provider configurations are organized as follows:

~/Library/Application Support/lc/  # macOS
~/.local/share/lc/                 # Linux
%LOCALAPPDATA%/lc/                 # Windows
├── config.toml                    # Main configuration
├── keys.toml                      # API keys (secure, not for version control)
└── providers/                     # Provider configurations
    ├── openai.toml
    ├── anthropic.toml
    └── gemini.toml

Authentication Types​

The provider system supports various authentication methods:

API Key​

Most common authentication type:

lc keys add openai

Service Account (Google Vertex AI)​

For Google Cloud services:

lc keys add vertex_ai
# Paste base64-encoded service account JSON or provide file path

OAuth Token​

For OAuth-based providers:

lc keys add github
# Enter OAuth token

Custom Headers​

For providers requiring custom authentication headers:

lc providers headers <provider> add X-API-Key <value>

Creating a Provider Registry​

You can create your own provider registry for custom or internal providers:

Registry Structure​

provider-registry/
├── registry.json              # Registry metadata
└── providers/
    ├── custom-provider.toml
    └── internal-llm.toml

Registry Format​

registry.json:

{
  "custom-provider": {
    "name": "Custom Provider",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "Internal LLM service",
    "official": false,
    "auth_type": "ApiKey",
    "tags": ["chat", "internal"]
  }
}

Provider Configuration Format​

providers/custom-provider.toml:

# Custom Provider Configuration
# Version: 1.0.0

endpoint = "https://api.internal.com"
models = []
models_path = "/v1/models"
chat_path = "/v1/chat/completions"

[headers]
Content-Type = "application/json"

[vars]
# Custom variables for path templating

[chat_templates.".*"]
# Request/response templates for chat endpoint
request = """
{
  "model": "{{ model }}",
  "messages": {{ messages | json }}
}
"""

Using a Custom Registry​

Set the registry URL environment variable:

export LC_PROVIDER_REGISTRY_URL="https://your-domain.com/provider-registry"
lc providers install custom-provider

Or use a local file path:

export LC_PROVIDER_REGISTRY_URL="file:///path/to/provider-registry"
lc providers install custom-provider

Migration from Legacy Configuration​

If you have existing provider configurations with embedded API keys, they will be automatically migrated to the new system:

  1. API keys are extracted and moved to keys.toml
  2. Provider configs are updated to remove sensitive data
  3. Original functionality is preserved

The migration happens automatically when you run any lc command after updating.

Security Best Practices​

  1. Never commit keys.toml to version control
  2. Add keys.toml to .gitignore if sharing configurations
  3. Use environment variables for CI/CD: 
    export LC_OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
  4. Set restrictive permissions on keys.toml (automatically done on Unix systems)

Troubleshooting​

Provider Not Found​

Error: Provider 'xyz' not found in registry

Solution: Check available providers with lc providers available

Authentication Failed​

Error: No API key configured for provider 'openai'

Solution: Add the API key with lc keys add openai

Version Conflicts​

Warning: Provider 'openai' has updates available (v1.0.0 -> v1.1.0)

Solution: Update with lc providers upgrade openai

Custom Registry Issues​

Error: Failed to fetch registry from URL

Solution: Verify the registry URL and ensure it's accessible

Examples​

Complete Setup Flow​

# 1. Install a provider
lc providers install openai

# 2. Add API key
lc keys add openai
# Enter your API key when prompted

# 3. Verify installation
lc providers list

# 4. Test the provider
lc -m gpt-4 "Hello, world!"

Managing Multiple Providers​

# Install multiple providers
lc p i openai
lc p i anthropic
lc p i gemini

# Add keys for each
lc k a openai
lc k a anthropic
lc k a gemini

# List all configured providers
lc p l

# Use different providers
lc -p openai -m gpt-4 "OpenAI query"
lc -p anthropic -m claude-3-opus "Anthropic query"
lc -p gemini -m gemini-pro "Google query"

Sharing Configurations​

# Export provider configs (without keys)
cp -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/lc/providers ./shared-configs/

# Import on another machine
cp -r ./shared-configs/* ~/Library/Application\ Support/lc/providers/

# Add keys on the new machine
lc keys add openai
lc keys add anthropic