# Platform Setup for AI Providers

> Source: https://parallelworks.com/docs/ai/ai-providers/platform-setup

# Platform Setup for AI Providers

Platform administrators decide which organizations can use AI and which provider types users can connect to. Both are set in the **Admin** area under **Products** > **AI**. Until AI is enabled for an organization and at least one catalog entry is enabled, its users can't add providers.

The **Products** page shows the AI product's state (**Ready**, **Setup required**, or **Attention needed**) along with how many organizations, connections, and models it has. Click **Configure** to open it.

## Platform Availability

Under **Platform availability**, choose who can use AI:

- **Allow all organizations**: every organization on the platform can use AI.
- **Restrict organizations**: only the organizations listed under **Assigned organizations** can use AI. Use **Add an organization** to add one.
- **Product disabled**: AI is unavailable platform-wide.

Click **Save** to apply the change. Disabling AI, or removing an organization, suspends the affected connections and their configured models rather than deleting them. Credentials, conversations, permissions, catalog entries, and historical usage are kept, and restoring access restores eligible connections.

Effective access also requires an enabled catalog entry, a model enabled on the connection, and a permission grant to the user or one of their groups.

## Provider Catalog

Under **Configuration**, click **Provider catalog**. The **Provider access** setting controls the built-in entries:

- **Allow all providers**: users can connect to any built-in provider.
- **Restrict providers**: only the providers enabled under **Built-in providers** are available. Connections to other providers are suspended, not deleted.

Click **Save** after changing it.

### Built-in Providers

With **Restrict providers** selected, the **Built-in providers** list shows every built-in entry with its endpoint and a toggle.

- **Enable or disable an entry** with its toggle. Disabling an entry immediately suspends its connections and their configured models; enabling it again resumes them.
- **Configure** an entry to set its **Allowed models** and **Text-only models**:
  - **Allowed models**: one model ID per line. Users only see and enable models on this list. Leave it empty to allow every model the provider reports. **Load models from existing connections** fills the list from the models current connections report.
  - **Text-only models**: models that reject image input, so clients skip sending them images.

The entry's endpoint, protocol, and TLS policy are maintained by the platform and can't be changed, with one exception: **USAi** endpoints are agency-specific, so its row reads "Endpoint set by the platform administrator". Enabling USAi opens its **Configure** dialog, where you enter the **Endpoint origin** and **Endpoint path** issued to your platform before you click **Enable provider**.

The **Self-hosted session** entry controls whether users can expose models from sessions. See [Self-Hosted Sessions](/docs/ai/ai-providers/self-hosted-sessions).

Each entry's tool-calling mode is part of its built-in definition. See [Tool Calling & Emulation](/docs/ai/ai-providers/tool-calling/#where-the-mode-comes-from).

### Custom Providers

Under **Custom providers**, click **Add provider** to register a private or internal OpenAI-compatible endpoint. See [Custom OpenAI-Compatible Providers](/docs/ai/ai-providers/custom-openai-compatible/#add-a-custom-provider-to-the-catalog).

## Connections

Under **Configuration**, click **Connections** to see every AI connection on the platform, personal and organization-owned, with its **Owner**, **Type**, **Endpoint**, **Models**, and **State**. A connection's state is **Active** or one of the suspended states:

- **Suspended · unmapped**: the connection isn't linked to a catalog entry.
- **Suspended · catalog inactive**: its catalog entry is disabled.
- **Suspended · product disabled**: AI is disabled platform-wide.
- **Suspended · organization not assigned**: its organization isn't assigned to AI.

For an unmapped connection, choose **Map to catalog entry…** from its row menu and pick the approved entry that matches its endpoint, or first add that endpoint as a custom provider and map the connection to it. Mapping pins the connection's endpoint and TLS policy to the entry; ownership doesn't change.

Choose **Delete connection** to permanently remove a connection, its credentials, and its access grants. Managed Azure resources are deprovisioned. Historical usage is preserved.

## Related Documentation

- [AI Providers Overview](/docs/ai/ai-providers): How catalog entries become providers
- [Custom OpenAI-Compatible Providers](/docs/ai/ai-providers/custom-openai-compatible): Adding internal endpoints to the catalog
- [Navigating the Admin Panel](/docs/admin-panel): Other platform settings