Providers & auth

Provider	Credentials
openai-codex (default)	ChatGPT Plus/Pro via device-code OAuth — TUI /connect
openai	Stored API key or OPENAI_API_KEY
xai	Stored API key or XAI_API_KEY
deepseek	Stored API key or DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
Custom OpenAI-compatible name	Stored API key, <PROVIDER_NAME>_API_KEY, or fallback OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_API_KEY; endpoint configured in user settings or WISP_OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_CONFIG
anthropic	Stored API key or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
google	Stored API key, GOOGLE_API_KEY, or GEMINI_API_KEY
fake	None — deterministic offline provider for tests and smoke runs

wisp -p "hello" --provider anthropic --model claude-sonnet-5
wisp -p "explain this repository" --provider xai --model grok-4.6
wisp -p "review this change" --provider deepseek --model deepseek-v4-pro

DeepSeek Chat Completions

The built-in deepseek provider uses DeepSeek's OpenAI-format Chat Completions API at https://api.deepseek.com. Set DEEPSEEK_API_KEY or store a key with /connect deepseek. Wisp enables thinking mode, streams reasoning separately from final text, and preserves DeepSeek's native reasoning_content inside provider-local continuation state so thinking-mode tool rounds can be continued correctly. Context caching is automatic on DeepSeek's service.

The model catalog lists deepseek-v4-pro and deepseek-v4-flash, each with low, high, and max effort. DeepSeek's peak/off-peak prices are not currently estimated because Wisp's catalog does not yet represent time-of-day rates.

xAI Responses API

The built-in xai provider uses xAI's stateful Responses API at https://api.x.ai/v1, not the legacy Chat Completions endpoint. Set XAI_API_KEY or store a key with /connect xai. Wisp streams text and summarized reasoning, supports parallel client-defined function tools, and continues tool rounds with xAI response IDs.

Native HTTP continuation stores response state on xAI's servers. xAI documents a 30-day retention period for stored responses; Wisp explicitly enables storage to preserve reasoning and tool state across continued requests. Stateless/ZDR continuation over xAI's WebSocket transport and xAI-hosted web, X, code-execution, file-search, and MCP tools are not currently enabled by Wisp.

OpenAI-compatible endpoints

OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions endpoints can be configured in the user settings file or with the WISP_OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_CONFIG environment variable. Project settings cannot redirect requests carrying your credentials. For example, OpenRouter in ~/.wisp/settings.json:

{
  "provider": "openrouter",
  "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4",
  "openai_compatible": {
    "provider_name": "openrouter",
    "base_url": "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
    "default_model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"
  }
}

For an environment-only deployment, set the same inner object as JSON. It overrides the openai_compatible object from the user settings file:

export WISP_OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_CONFIG='{"provider_name":"openrouter","base_url":"https://openrouter.ai/api/v1","default_model":"anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"}'

An explicit OpenAICompatibleSettings value supplied by an SDK embedder has precedence over the environment variable, which in turn has precedence over user settings.

Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY, use the optional OPENAI_COMPATIBLE_API_KEY fallback, or enter the key with /connect openrouter. Provider names must start with a lowercase letter. Hyphens become underscores in environment variables — local-openai uses LOCAL_OPENAI_API_KEY.

Local servers that do not require authentication can use a loopback HTTP endpoint with "requires_api_key": false:

{
  "provider": "local-openai",
  "openai_compatible": {
    "provider_name": "local-openai",
    "base_url": "http://localhost:11434/v1",
    "default_model": "qwen3-coder",
    "requires_api_key": false
  }
}

For a private certificate authority, set "ca_bundle" to an existing absolute PEM bundle path inside openai_compatible. This provider-level setting overrides the default trust bundle for that endpoint. Python HTTP clients also honor SSL_CERT_FILE process-wide.

Compatibility targets streaming /chat/completions, including client-defined function tools. Explicit model IDs pass through unchanged; add a user-only ~/.wisp/catalog.toml overlay when model-picker metadata, context limits, effort tiers, or pricing are desired. The catalog provider name must equal provider_name; list models in models and provider-native effort strings under [providers.effort_levels].

Credential storage

Credentials entered through /connect are stored in WISP_AUTH_FILE when set, otherwise the resolved auth_path (default ~/.wisp/auth.json), with private permissions. A trusted project's .wisp/settings.json may override auth_path, including with a relative path inside the working tree, so inspect that file before connecting and never commit the selected auth file. An explicit WISP_AUTH_FILE takes precedence.

Updates are serialized across cooperating Wisp processes and atomically publish a synchronized, uniquely staged replacement; unsafe symlink, hard-link, ownership, or permission state is rejected rather than read.

Precedence: explicit provider constructor keys, then environment variables, then stored keys.

Secrets entered in the panel are masked and never enter prompt history, transcripts, RPC events, or session JSONL.

Switching providers and models

In the TUI, /model with no arguments lists every catalog model grouped by provider. If a model id belongs to only one registered provider, /model <id> switches providers to match; otherwise use /provider <name> first.

Model catalog

The packaged catalog lists current text-generation models that Wisp's streaming, client-tool adapters can use. Catalog entries are advisory, not access control — model access varies by account and region, and explicitly configured unknown models still pass through to the provider.

Context windows and compaction limits are provider-scoped: the direct openai API and the openai-codex subscription can expose the same model id with different limits. Wisp uses the earlier of the provider-recommended compaction limit and the configured reserve; provider metadata can make the reserve more conservative but never weaken a larger user reserve.

Pricing is optional, effective-dated, and provider-scoped, and is used only to estimate new request costs. Add account-specific models or negotiated rates in the user-only ~/.wisp/catalog.toml overlay — Wisp never reads a project-local catalog.

Retry behavior

Wisp retries only requests that fail before the provider starts streaming, using bounded exponential backoff with jitter. It honors reasonable Retry-After requests, emits retry progress in JSON/RPC and the TUI, and never replays an already-started response.

OpenAI-family streams succeed only after the provider's native completion event. If a connection ends first, Wisp reports a failed turn with any partial text and never executes buffered tool calls. For Wisp-owned openai-codex connections, connect and pool waits are limited to 10 seconds, request writes to 30 seconds, and response-header or between-chunk read inactivity to 300 seconds. Caller-injected HTTP clients retain their caller-selected timeout policy.

Tune with WISP_RETRY_MAX_RETRIES, WISP_RETRY_BASE_DELAY_SECONDS, and WISP_RETRY_MAX_DELAY_SECONDS — see Environment variables.