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Providers Overview

Providers are how Arc talks to models.

Arc supports both local and remote setups.

Global Default Provider

The provider you choose in arc init becomes the default provider for the main agent and for any task agent that does not define its own override.

This global config lives in:

  • ~/.arc/config.toml

Common fields are:

  • default_provider
  • default_model
  • base_url
  • api_key

Supported Provider Styles

Arc currently supports presets for:

  • Ollama
  • OpenAI
  • OpenRouter
  • Groq
  • Together
  • LM Studio
  • Custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints
  • Codex / Responses-style endpoints

Some providers come with a built-in default base URL. Others, such as custom endpoints and many Codex/Responses-style setups, need you to provide the base URL explicitly.

A Good Mental Model

  • Use the global provider for the main agent and as the default fallback.
  • Override the provider per task agent when different workers need different models or endpoints.

Typical Setups

Simple local setup

  • global provider: Ollama
  • main agent uses local model
  • task agents also inherit local model unless overridden

Mixed setup

  • global provider: Ollama or OpenAI
  • researcher uses a cheap fast model
  • writer uses a stronger writing model
  • reviewer uses a strict model or a different provider

Internal endpoint setup

  • global or per-agent provider points to a custom base URL
  • API key stored globally or per agent as needed

Where To Configure Things

  • arc init: main agent and default provider
  • dashboard agent form: per-agent provider/model/base URL/API key
  • ~/.arc/config.toml: global config
  • ~/.arc/agents/*.toml: task agent overrides