---
slug: "mcowger-pi-llmgateway"
source_type: "readme"
source_url: "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/mcowger/pi-llmgateway@main/README.md"
repo: "https://github.com/mcowger/pi-llmgateway"
source_file: "README.md"
branch: "main"
---
# Pi LLM Gateway Extension

A Pi extension that adds [LLM Gateway](https://llmgateway.io) as a model provider, giving you access to 160+ chat models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Mistral, DeepSeek, and many others through a single OpenAI-compatible API.

## Installation

### Get API Key

Sign up at [llmgateway.io](https://llmgateway.io) to get an API key.

### Configure Credentials

Add your API key to `~/.pi/agent/auth.json` (recommended):

```json
{
  "llmgateway": { "type": "api_key", "key": "your-api-key-here" }
}
```

Or set an environment variable:

```bash
export LLMGATEWAY_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
```

### Install Extension

```bash
# From npm
pi install npm:@mcowger/pi-llmgateway

# From git
pi install git:github.com/mcowger/pi-llmgateway

# Local development
pi -e ./src/extensions/provider/index.ts
```

## Usage

Select `llmgateway` as your provider and choose from available models:

```
/model llmgateway gpt-5
/model llmgateway claude-opus-4-8
/model llmgateway gemini-2.5-pro
/model llmgateway auto
```

The special `auto` model lets the gateway pick the best provider and model for each request based on the configured routing strategy.

## Settings

Configure with `/llmgateway:settings`:

| Setting | Values | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `routing` | `auto`, `price`, `throughput`, `latency` | `auto` | Provider routing strategy. Note: coding (dev) plans only support `auto` and `price`. |
| `webSearch` | `enabled`, `disabled` | `disabled` | Enable native web search for models that support it. |
| `baseUrl` | URL string | `https://api.llmgateway.io/v1` | API base URL for self-hosted instances. |
| `includeDeactivated` | `include`, `ignore` | `ignore` | Show deactivated models (may stop working at any time). |

Settings can also be changed with `pi config`.

## Compat values

The extension sends all requests in standard OpenAI Chat Completions format. The LLM Gateway normalises everything server-side:

- `max_tokens` is used for all models (the gateway translates to `max_completion_tokens` for GPT-5/o-series internally)
- `developer` role is not used (`system` role is sent for all models)
- Reasoning is controlled via top-level `reasoning_effort` (`none|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh|max`)
- `reasoning_content` on assistant messages is not required (the gateway reconstructs it for upstreams that need it)
- Prompt caching is managed by the gateway

## Self-hosted instances

Change the base URL in settings to point to your own LLM Gateway deployment:

```
/llmgateway:settings → Connection → Base URL → https://your-gateway.example.com/v1
```

Restart Pi after changing the URL.

## Updating the Model Snapshot

Models are seeded from a hardcoded snapshot (`src/extensions/provider/models/static.ts`) and refreshed from the live `/v1/models` API on each session start. To update the snapshot (e.g. after significant model changes):

1. Run `bun run test` — it fetches the live API and reports drift
2. Regenerate the snapshot by running the generator script
3. Re-run `bun run test` to confirm no drift

## Development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/mcowger/pi-llmgateway.git
cd pi-llmgateway
bun install
```

### Commands

```bash
bun run typecheck   # TypeScript type check
bun run lint        # Biome lint
bun run format      # Biome format (auto-fix)
bun run test        # Vitest (includes live API drift check)
bun run gen:schema  # Regenerate schema.json from config.ts
```

## Requirements

- Pi coding agent v0.67.68+
- LLM Gateway API key (configured in `~/.pi/agent/auth.json` or via `LLMGATEWAY_API_KEY`)

## Links

- [LLM Gateway](https://llmgateway.io)
- [LLM Gateway Docs](https://docs.llmgateway.io)
- [LLM Gateway GitHub](https://github.com/theopenco/llmgateway)
- [Pi Documentation](https://buildwithpi.ai/)