Providers and endpoints

Providers

A provider record defines the upstream API root, authentication mode, enabled state, optional maximum latency, and operator-facing identity. Provider base URLs are configurable, which allows direct cloud services, aggregators, and local runtimes to participate when they expose compatible OpenAI-style endpoints.

Provider credentials are encrypted at rest in AnchorShell Relay — Self-Hosted. The master key remains in the process environment; credentials are decrypted into a process-local cache for outbound requests.

Endpoints

An endpoint maps a provider connection to an upstream model and route kind. Endpoint settings include:

• upstream model identifier;
• chat, responses, embeddings, or multi-route compatibility;
• enabled state and manual rank;
• optional context and capability descriptors;
• streaming/tool/vision capability labels;
• endpoint pacing toggle;
• cooldown and health state;
• optional maximum latency;
• optional pricing policy.

Capability fields describe configured endpoint behavior; they are not a guarantee that every upstream supports that capability.

Local endpoints

A local runtime is treated as another configurable provider path. Relay does not require a special “local model” protocol. The runtime must expose a compatible OpenAI-style base URL, and the operator must configure the endpoint and credentials or no-auth mode appropriately.