Models

A model in PiG is identified by a provider-qualified spec: provider/modelID. Every API that takes a model - --model, /model, Ctrl+P cycling, Context.SetModel(), settings entries - should round-trip through provider-qualified specs. Bare model IDs are accepted for backward compatibility but are interpreted as openai/<id>, which has historically caused silent routing drift.

Selecting a model

The selector lists every model from every provider that currently has valid auth. Models from providers without credentials are dimmed and not selectable.

Scoped models

Scoped models are the list Ctrl+P cycles through. They are stored in settings as provider-qualified IDs; PiG accepts legacy bare IDs and rewrites them on next save.

Cycling preserves both provider and id. The generatedModelSpec helper produces specs like:

• github-copilot/gpt-5.5
• openai/gpt-5.5-mini
• openrouter/openai/gpt-5.5
  • trailing slash inside id is preserved.

If a custom helper or extension passes only model.ID to BuildModel(), PiG falls back to openai/<id> - never do this in cycling code paths.

Thinking levels

PiG surfaces reasoning effort through these named levels:

off → minimal → low → medium → high → xhigh → max

A model exposes only the levels it supports. Cycling follows that supported set.

• Shift+Tab cycles thinking on models that advertise reasoning support.
• getThinkingLevel() and setThinkingLevel(level) are exposed to extensions.
• The current label is rendered in the status line; extensions can override the hidden label with ui.setHiddenThinkingLabel.
• Models that do not support reasoning silently ignore changes; the host does not emit an error.

A model is reasoning-capable when its generated entry sets Reasoning: true; ThinkingLevelMap controls how each level is wired into the request. See ai/models_generated.go in source for the table.

Model metadata

getAllTools() excluded, every model entry the host knows about carries:

• Provider
  • provider key (see providers.md).
• ID
  • model identifier as the provider names it. May contain slashes.
• DisplayName
  • UI label.
• Reasoning
  • bool; whether the model supports thinking_level.
• ThinkingLevelMap
  • provider-specific wiring per level.
• MaxTokens / ContextWindow
  • for context usage math.
• Cost (if known) - input/output rates.

Extensions can read this via getModelInfo() (returns *ModelInfo) inside any handler.

Adding a model

New built-in models are generated into ai/models_generated.go and committed in source. Extensions cannot add new built-in models, but they can register an independent provider and model catalog. See Providers and Extensions.

Common errors