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Companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic (providers) offer access to a range of large language models (LLMs) with differing strengths and capabilities through their own APIs. Each provider typically has its own unique method for interfacing with their models, complicating the process of switching providers and increasing the risk of vendor lock-in. To solve these challenges, AI SDK Core offers a standardized approach to interacting with LLMs through a language model specification that abstracts differences between providers. This unified interface allows you to switch between providers with ease while using the same API for all providers.

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Provider architecture

The AI SDK uses a layered provider architecture:

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Language model specification

At the core is the LanguageModelV3 interface from @ai-sdk/provider: 
type LanguageModelV3 = {
  readonly specificationVersion: 'v3';
  readonly provider: string;
  readonly modelId: string;
  readonly supportedUrls: Record<string, RegExp[]> | PromiseLike<Record<string, RegExp[]>>;
  
  doGenerate(
    options: LanguageModelV3CallOptions,
  ): PromiseLike<LanguageModelV3GenerateResult>;
  
  doStream(
    options: LanguageModelV3CallOptions,
  ): PromiseLike<LanguageModelV3StreamResult>;
};
This interface defines the contract that all language model providers must implement.

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Provider implementation

Providers implement this interface to work with the AI SDK. For example, here’s how the OpenAI provider is structured: 
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';

// Create a model instance
const model = openai('gpt-4');

// Use with any AI SDK function
import { generateText } from 'ai';

const result = await generateText({
  model,
  prompt: 'Hello, world!',
});

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Core functions

The AI SDK provides high-level functions like generateText and streamText that work with any provider: 
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
import { anthropic } from '@ai-sdk/anthropic';

// Use OpenAI
const result1 = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4'),
  prompt: 'Explain quantum computing.',
});

// Switch to Anthropic - same API
const result2 = await generateText({
  model: anthropic('claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022'),
  prompt: 'Explain quantum computing.',
});

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Available providers

The AI SDK comes with a wide range of providers:

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Official providers

And many more - see the full list of providers.

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Community providers

The open-source community has created additional providers: And many more - see the full list of community providers.

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Using models

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Basic usage

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';

const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4'),
  prompt: 'What is the capital of France?',
});

console.log(result.text);

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Switching providers

Switching providers is as simple as changing the model import: 
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { anthropic } from '@ai-sdk/anthropic';

const result = await generateText({
  model: anthropic('claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022'),
  prompt: 'What is the capital of France?',
});

console.log(result.text);

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Model configuration

Providers can be configured with custom settings: 
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';

const customOpenAI = openai({
  apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
  baseURL: 'https://api.openai.com/v1',
});

const model = customOpenAI('gpt-4');

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Model capabilities

Different models support different capabilities: 
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';

// Image input support
const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o'),
  messages: [
    {
      role: 'user',
      content: [
        { type: 'text', text: 'Describe this image.' },
        { type: 'image', image: imageBuffer },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

// Tool calling support
const resultWithTools = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4'),
  tools: {
    weather: tool({
      description: 'Get the weather in a location',
      inputSchema: z.object({
        location: z.string(),
      }),
      execute: async ({ location }) => ({ temperature: 72 }),
    }),
  },
  prompt: 'What is the weather in Paris?',
});
See the model capabilities table for a detailed comparison.

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Model registry

For dynamic model selection, use the experimental model registry: 
import { experimental_createModelRegistry as createModelRegistry } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
import { anthropic } from '@ai-sdk/anthropic';

const registry = createModelRegistry({
  openai: openai,
  anthropic: anthropic,
});

// Use models by string identifier
const model = registry.languageModel('openai:gpt-4');

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Provider-specific options

You can pass provider-specific options using providerOptions: 
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';

const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('o1'),
  providerOptions: {
    openai: {
      reasoningEffort: 'high',
    },
  },
  prompt: 'Solve this complex problem...',
});
This allows you to access provider-specific features while maintaining the unified AI SDK interface.