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AI Providers

AI providers are the model backends behind the ACTIVATE AI gateway. Each provider connects the platform to a large language model endpoint, powering both Chat and programmatic access through AI keys.

ACTIVATE supports three types of providers:

  • Azure OpenAI — A managed provider provisioned through your organization's Azure infrastructure. ACTIVATE handles deployment and configuration automatically.
  • Custom OpenAI-Compatible — Any endpoint that implements the OpenAI chat completions API. Use this to connect services like vLLM, Ollama, or other compatible inference servers.
  • Session Tunnels — A secure tunnel from the platform to a model running inside an ACTIVATE compute session. Useful for private or fine-tuned models running on your own hardware.

Permissions Required

Creating and managing AI providers requires appropriate platform permissions. In most organizations, providers are set up by administrators or team leads and then shared with other users.

Provider Permissions

Each provider has its own access controls. The provider owner and organization administrators can share a provider with specific groups or the entire organization using the aiprovider:use permission. Users who have been granted access can select the shared provider in Chat.

See Managing Permissions for details on sharing and revoking access.

AI Keys

Users can create AI keys, which let external tools and applications authenticate to the organization's AI providers through the gateway. Each key belongs to the user who created it and draws from a budget allocation. See AI Keys for creating keys and using the OpenAI-compatible API.

Next Steps

Related Documentation