Settings: Providers

Providers are the model services Row-Bot can call. This tab answers whether each provider is connected, what kind of credential it uses, and whether Row-Bot has enough information to use it for chat, tools, Designer, Developer, voice, or embeddings.

The Providers tab shows connection health, provider groups, credential actions, catalog refresh controls, and runtime tests.

Where To Find It

Open Settings, then choose Providers from the left tab list.

Controls

• Connection Status summarizes how many providers are connected, local, API-based, subscription-based, or media-capable.
• Local providers show runtimes such as Ollama. Refresh checks what the local service currently exposes.
• Subscription accounts show sign-in based providers such as ChatGPT / Codex or Claude Subscription. Use connect, reconnect, test, and refresh actions from the row.
• API providers show services that need an API key or compatible endpoint. Their credential buttons open the setup flow for that provider.
• Custom endpoint providers let advanced users point Row-Bot at OpenAI-compatible servers such as LM Studio, vLLM, llama.cpp, LocalAI, LiteLLM, or SGLang.
• Runtime tests check whether a provider can handle the kind of requests Row-Bot needs. A failed test keeps the provider visible but may stop Row-Bot from offering it for agent work.

Common Workflow

1. Pick one provider path first: local Ollama for private local runs, a subscription account if you already use one, or an API provider if you prefer hosted models.
2. Add credentials or sign in only through the provider row you intend to use.
3. Refresh the provider so Row-Bot can discover available models.
4. Open Settings -> Models to pin the models you want in the chat picker.

What Is Saved

Provider connection state is global to the local Row-Bot app. Secrets are stored in the operating system key store when available; Row-Bot settings keep masked status and catalog metadata.

Privacy And Safety

Review credential, account, channel, provider, or tool settings before enabling features that can contact outside services. Local-only features stay on your machine until you ask Row-Bot to use a provider, account, channel, MCP server, plugin, or tool that sends data elsewhere.

Control-Level Reference

The generated Settings Controls reference lists the visible controls found in the current application source, including defaults, allowed values when they are declared inline, dependencies, restart notes, security notes, and source locations.

Troubleshooting

• If a provider is connected but models do not appear, refresh Providers, then refresh Models.
• If a runtime test fails, read the row message before changing credentials; the model may be chat-capable but not tool-capable.
• If local Ollama is missing, start Ollama and make sure at least one model is installed.