Overview

Connect your own LLM provider to ByteRover for unlimited model access

ByteRover includes a built-in LLM with limited free usage (requires a logged-in ByteRover account). Connect your own provider to remove limits and choose any supported model — no ByteRover account needed.

When the built-in provider is active, your remaining credits show in the REPL header as a Billing: line and in the web UI header as a <N> cr pill. If you belong to one or more paid teams, you can also pick which team to bill per project — see Pick a billing team.

TIP

Prefer a visual workflow? See Providers & Models in the web UI. In the web picker, ByteRover is pinned at the top with a Native badge — selecting it opens the sign-in popup directly, with no extra confirmation step.

Connect a provider

TUI

Step 1: Open the provider selector

/providers

ByteRover lists all providers with a short description of each (what its models are known for) and status indicators — (Current) for the active provider, [Connected] for previously connected ones.

Step 2: Select and connect

Select an unconnected provider. Providers that support OAuth (currently OpenAI) will present a choice — "Sign in with OAuth" to authenticate via your browser, or "API Key" to enter a key manually. Other providers prompt for an API key directly. ByteRover validates credentials before saving. After connecting, a model selector opens automatically.

Picking ByteRover while signed in to one or more paid teams shows a billing-team picker as part of the connect flow. The team you choose is remembered for the current project; switching teams later is non-destructive. See Pick a billing team below.

CLI

Step 1: List available providers

brv providers list

Step 2: Connect with your API key or OAuth

brv providers connect <provider-id> --api-key <your-key>

Optionally set the active model in the same step:

brv providers connect anthropic --api-key sk-ant-... --model claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

For providers that support OAuth (currently OpenAI), you can authenticate via your browser instead:

brv providers connect openai --oauth

To switch back to the ByteRover built-in (requires brv login first):

brv login                          # opens your browser for OAuth
# or on CI / SSH:
# brv login --api-key <your-api-key>
brv providers connect byterover

# Pin this project to a paid team (byterover provider only):
brv providers connect byterover --team acme

--team accepts a team name or slug. It is only supported for the byterover provider; passing it elsewhere fails with a clear error. See Pick a billing team below.

If authentication or connection fails, the CLI displays the specific error — follow the instructions in the message to resolve it.

Select a model

TUI

Step 1: Open the model browser

/model

Models are grouped by provider, with pricing and context window size shown when available.

Step 2: Select a model

Use arrow keys to browse and press Enter to select. You can also type to filter models by name or provider.

CLI

Step 1: List available models

List models from all connected providers:

brv model list

Filter to a specific provider:

brv model list --provider openrouter

Step 2: Switch to a model

Switch to a model on the active provider:

brv model switch <model-id>

Switch a model on a specific provider without changing the active provider:

brv model switch gpt-4.1 --provider openai

Show the currently active model:

```bash
brv model
```

NOTE

Model lists are cached for 1 hour. ByteRover refreshes automatically when the cache expires.

Switch providers

TUI

Step 1: Open the provider selector

/providers

Step 2: Select a connected provider

Select any provider marked [Connected]. ByteRover switches without re-entering your API key.

CLI

Switch to a provider that's already connected:

brv providers switch <provider-id>

Show the currently active provider and model:

brv providers

Pick a billing team

The built-in ByteRover provider charges credits against a billing team. Personal accounts on the free tier always bill to their personal allotment. If you are a member of one or more paid teams, you can choose per project which team's credits get spent.

When the picker appears

• TUI / web UI: as a step in the ByteRover provider-connect flow, after sign-in, only if you have at least one paid team.
• CLI: pass --team <name> to brv providers connect byterover. The flag accepts a team name or slug and is only supported for the byterover provider.

What the CLI confirms After a successful pin, the CLI logs:

ByteRover usage on this project will be billed to <team>.

Where credits show up

• REPL header: Billing: <team> (<remaining> credits, <tier>) for paid teams, or Billing: Personal free credits (<remaining> / <total>) for the free tier.
• Web UI: a <N> cr pill next to each team row in the picker and in the page header (e.g. 12.4k cr, 50k cr). One decimal of precision so 12.4k and 12.9k stay distinguishable.

Out of credits

When the active team's credits hit zero:

• CLI — brv curate and brv query fail and a message that names every other paid team you could switch to. For free-tier accounts, the message tells you to upgrade to a paid team.
• Web UI — the provider picker shows an "exhausted" alert with a Top up button. The button opens your team's billing settings in a new tab. You can also pick another team or switch to a bring-your-own-key provider directly from the alert.

Disconnect a provider

Disconnecting removes the stored API key and reverts to ByteRover's built-in LLM if the disconnected provider was active.

TUI

Step 1: Open the provider selector

/providers

Step 2: Select a connected provider

Select a connected provider to open the actions menu.

Step 3: Select Disconnect

Choose Disconnect to remove the stored API key and disconnect the provider.

CLI

brv providers disconnect <provider-id>

Local LLM setup

The openai-compatible provider connects to any OpenAI-compatible local server — Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, or any custom endpoint. You provide the base URL when connecting.

When listing models from the endpoint, brv providers connect dedupes by model ID. Upstreams that return the same model under multiple aliases (for example NVIDIA NIM) show as a single row in the picker.

TUI

Step 1: Serve your model

Make sure your local LLM server is running before connecting.

Step 2: Connect the provider

Run /providers and select OpenAI Compatible. ByteRover prompts you to enter the base URL of your endpoint:

/providers

Enter your base URL (e.g., http://localhost:11434/v1 for Ollama). An API key prompt follows — leave it blank if your server doesn't require one.

Step 3: Select your model

/model

CLI

Step 1: Serve your model

Make sure your local server is running before connecting.

Step 2: Connect the provider

Pass your base URL with --base-url. API key is optional:

brv providers connect openai-compatible --base-url http://localhost:11434/v1

With an API key (e.g., for LM Studio with auth enabled):

brv providers connect openai-compatible --base-url http://localhost:1234/v1 --api-key <your-key>

Step 3: Switch to your model

brv model switch llama3

Supported providers

ByteRover supports 20 providers:

Provider	ID	Default model	Get API key
ByteRover (built-in)	byterover	—	No API key — requires brv login
OpenRouter	openrouter	anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5	openrouter.ai/keys
Anthropic	anthropic	claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929	console.anthropic.com
OpenAI	openai	gpt-4.1	platform.openai.com
Google Gemini	google	gemini-3-flash-preview	aistudio.google.com
xAI (Grok)	xai	grok-3	console.x.ai
Groq	groq	openai/gpt-oss-120b	console.groq.com
Mistral	mistral	mistral-large-latest	console.mistral.ai
DeepInfra	deepinfra	meta-llama/Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8	deepinfra.com
Cohere	cohere	command-a-03-2025	dashboard.cohere.com
Together AI	togetherai	meta-llama/Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8	api.together.ai
Perplexity	perplexity	sonar-pro	perplexity.ai
Cerebras	cerebras	gpt-oss-120b	cloud.cerebras.ai
Vercel	vercel	v0-1.5-md	v0.dev
MiniMax	minimax	MiniMax-M2.7	platform.minimax.io
GLM (Z.AI)	glm	glm-4.7	chat.z.ai
GLM Coding Plan (Z.AI)	glm-coding-plan	glm-4.7	z.ai/manage-apikey/apikey-list
Moonshot AI (Kimi)	moonshot	kimi-k2.5	platform.moonshot.ai
DeepSeek	deepseek	deepseek-chat	platform.deepseek.com
OpenAI Compatible	openai-compatible	llama3	Optional (depends on endpoint)

Recommended LLM list

The following models have been verified and are recommended for optimal performance with ByteRover:

Provider	Model
Anthropic	claude-opus-4.6
Anthropic	claude-sonnet-4.6
Anthropic	claude-3.7-sonnet
Anthropic	claude-haiku-4.5
Anthropic	claude-3-haiku
Google (Gemini)	gemini-3.1-pro-preview
Google (Gemini)	gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview
Google (Gemini)	gemini-3-flash-preview
OpenAI	gpt-5.4
OpenAI	gpt-5.2
OpenAI	gpt-5.1
OpenAI	gpt-5.4-mini
OpenAI	gpt-5
OpenAI	gpt-4.5
OpenAI	gpt-4.1
OpenAI	gpt-4.1-nano
OpenAI	gpt-4o
OpenAI	gpt-4o-mini
OpenAI	o3
OpenAI	o3-mini
ZAI	glm-5
ZAI	glm-4.7
ZAI	glm-4.6
ZAI	glm-4.5
ZAI	glm-4.5-flash

Environment variable auto-detection

If an API key is already set in your environment, ByteRover detects it automatically — no manual entry needed when connecting.

Provider	Environment variable(s)
Anthropic	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
OpenAI	OPENAI_API_KEY
OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Google Gemini	GOOGLE_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY
xAI	XAI_API_KEY
Groq	GROQ_API_KEY
Mistral	MISTRAL_API_KEY
DeepInfra	DEEPINFRA_API_KEY
Cohere	COHERE_API_KEY
Together AI	TOGETHER_API_KEY, TOGETHERAI_API_KEY
Perplexity	PERPLEXITY_API_KEY
Cerebras	CEREBRAS_API_KEY
Vercel	VERCEL_API_KEY
MiniMax	MINIMAX_API_KEY
GLM	ZHIPU_API_KEY
GLM Coding Plan	ZHIPU_API_KEY (shared with GLM)
Moonshot AI	MOONSHOT_API_KEY
DeepSeek	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
OpenAI Compatible	OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_API_KEY

Hot-swap

No restart required when switching providers or models. When you switch, ByteRover broadcasts a provider:updated event and agent processes pick up the new configuration at the start of their next task. If tasks are already running, the swap is deferred until all in-flight tasks complete.

Two behaviors depending on what changed:

• Provider changed — a new session is created. In-memory conversation history is cleared (history formats are incompatible across providers).
• Model only changed — the session ID is reused, but in-memory conversation history is still lost on the new session manager.

Credential storage

API keys are stored in an AES-256-GCM encrypted local file — not your system keychain. Both files use 0600 permissions (owner read/write only).

File	Purpose
<data-dir>/.provider-keys	Random 32-byte encryption key, rotated on each save
<data-dir>/provider-credentials	AES-256-GCM encrypted JSON map of provider → API key

OAuth tokens are stored alongside API keys in the same encrypted storage and are automatically refreshed by the daemon — no manual token management required.

Non-sensitive preferences (active provider, active model, favorites, recent models) are stored in plaintext at <config-dir>/providers.json.

Platform-specific paths:

Platform	<config-dir>	<data-dir>
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/brv	~/Library/Application Support/brv
Linux	~/.config/brv (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/brv)	~/.local/share/brv (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/brv)
Windows	%APPDATA%/brv	%LOCALAPPDATA%/brv

Next steps

• Quickstart — Full setup guide including provider configuration

• CLI Reference — Complete reference for all brv providers and brv model commands