This guide covers all 11 supported AI providers in Skales. Each provider offers different models and capabilities. Configure providers in Settings → Providers.
Overview: Access 200+ models through a single unified API key.
Getting Started:
- Visit openrouter.ai/keys
- Create or copy your API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → OpenRouter → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- GPT-4o (OpenAI)
- Claude Sonnet 4 (Anthropic)
- Gemini 2.0 Flash (Google)
- Llama 3.3 (Meta)
- DeepSeek V3
- Mistral Large
Why Use It: One API key gives you access to hundreds of models from different providers, making it easy to compare and switch between models.
Overview: Run AI models locally on your machine with no API key required.
Getting Started:
- Install Ollama from ollama.com
- Pull a model:
ollama pull llama3.2 - Start Ollama (runs on
localhost:11434by default) - Skales auto-detects the running Ollama instance
Available Models:
- Llama 3.2
- Mistral
- Mixtral
- CodeLlama
- DeepSeek Coder V2
- Phi-3
- Gemma 2
Why Use It: Complete privacy—models run on your device with no data sent to external servers. Great for testing and development.
Configuration: No API key needed. Skales automatically detects Ollama at localhost:11434. If running on a different host, update the endpoint in Settings → Providers → Ollama.
Overview: Connect any OpenAI-compatible endpoint for maximum flexibility.
Getting Started:
- Have an OpenAI-compatible endpoint ready
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → Custom
- Set Base URL (e.g.,
http://localhost:8000/v1) - Paste API key if required (optional)
Supported Endpoints:
- LM Studio: Local GUI for running open-source models
- vLLM: High-throughput, low-latency LLM inference server
- llama.cpp: Lightweight C++ inference engine
- koboldcpp: Browser-based frontend for llama.cpp
Why Use It: Connect to any LLM infrastructure that follows OpenAI's API specification. Perfect for self-hosted deployments and custom model servers.
Testing Your Connection: Use the "Test Connection" button in the provider settings to verify your endpoint is reachable.
Overview: Direct API access to OpenAI's latest models.
Getting Started:
- Visit platform.openai.com
- Create an API key in the API keys section
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → OpenAI → Paste API Key
- Set your usage limits and billing preferences on the OpenAI dashboard
Available Models:
- GPT-4o (latest, multimodal)
- GPT-4o Mini (faster, cheaper)
- GPT-4 Turbo
- o1 (reasoning-focused)
- o1-mini
Why Use It: Access to OpenAI's most advanced models. GPT-4o is excellent for complex reasoning and multimodal tasks.
Pricing: OpenAI uses pay-as-you-go pricing. Monitor usage in your account dashboard to avoid surprises.
Overview: Direct API access to Anthropic's Claude models.
Getting Started:
- Visit console.anthropic.com
- Generate an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → Anthropic → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- Claude Sonnet 4 (most capable)
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- Claude 3.5 Haiku
- Claude 3 Opus
Why Use It: Claude models are known for thoughtful reasoning, long-context understanding (200k tokens), and safety-conscious design.
Advanced Features: Anthropic supports batch processing and vision capabilities with image uploads.
Overview: Access Google's Gemini family of models, plus image and video generation.
Getting Started:
- Visit aistudio.google.com
- Create an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → Google AI → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- Gemini 2.5 Flash (latest)
- Gemini 2.0 Flash (fast, multimodal)
Additional Capabilities:
- Imagen: Generate, edit, and enhance images
- Veo: Generate high-quality videos from text prompts
Why Use It: Gemini models are fast, multimodal, and optimized for reasoning. The bundled image and video generation tools extend creative possibilities.
Overview: Ultra-fast LLM inference with impressive speed-to-quality ratio.
Getting Started:
- Visit console.groq.com
- Create an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → Groq → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- Llama 3.3 70B (latest, fastest)
- Llama 3.1 8B
- DeepSeek R1 Distill
Why Use It: Groq specializes in inference speed. If low-latency responses are critical, Groq delivers exceptional performance.
Overview: Efficient, open-source-inspired models with strong reasoning capabilities.
Getting Started:
- Visit console.mistral.ai
- Generate an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → Mistral AI → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- Mistral Large (most capable)
- Mistral Medium
- Mistral Small (efficient)
- Codestral (code-specialized)
- Mistral Nemo (lightweight)
Why Use It: Mistral models offer a good balance of capability and efficiency. Codestral is particularly strong for code generation and completion.
Overview: Advanced models including reasoning-focused variants.
Getting Started:
- Visit platform.deepseek.com
- Create an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → DeepSeek → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- DeepSeek V3 (latest, general-purpose)
- DeepSeek Coder (code generation)
- DeepSeek R1 (reasoning-optimized)
Why Use It: DeepSeek V3 is particularly strong for Chinese language tasks and competitive pricing. R1 is excellent for mathematical and logical reasoning.
Overview: Access to Elon Musk's Grok models with real-time information access.
Getting Started:
- Visit console.x.ai
- Create an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → xAI → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- Grok 2 (latest, multimodal)
- Grok 2 Vision (specialized for vision tasks)
- Grok Beta
Why Use It: Grok models can access real-time information from X (Twitter). Useful for current events awareness and social media monitoring.
Overview: Unified API for many open-source models hosted in the cloud.
Getting Started:
- Visit api.together.xyz
- Generate an API key
- In Skales: Settings → Providers → Together AI → Paste API Key
Available Models:
- Llama 3 70B (Meta)
- Llama 3.1 405B (largest open model)
- Mixtral 8x22B (high-quality open model)
- Qwen 2.5 72B (strong multilingual support)
Why Use It: Together AI offers many open-source models with competitive pricing. Great for exploring diverse model families without managing individual API keys.
For Cost-Effectiveness: OpenRouter, Together AI, or Groq For Privacy: Ollama (local) or Custom (self-hosted) For Cutting-Edge: OpenAI (GPT-4o), Anthropic (Claude Sonnet 4), Google (Gemini) For Reasoning: DeepSeek R1, OpenAI o1, Anthropic Claude For Speed: Groq, Mistral For Open-Source Diversity: Together AI, Ollama
You can configure multiple providers and switch between them:
- Add API keys for different providers
- Select your preferred provider in Settings → Default Provider
- Override per conversation if needed
This allows you to compare models, manage costs, or use specialized providers for specific tasks.