---
title: "Models"
url: "/agents/models"
description: "The model catalog, model tiers, and connecting your own provider account with bring-your-own-key."
productArea: agents
audience: ["business-user", "admin"]
tags: ["models", "byok"]
lastReviewed: 2026-08-21
---

# Models (/agents/models)



Every agent runs on a model from the model catalog. Browse and assign models from the
dashboard's **Models** page, or from the model drawer on an agent.

## Model catalog [#model-catalog]

The catalog holds two kinds of entries:

* **System defaults** — global models maintained by KlicForge, available to every workspace.
* **Custom models (BYOK)** — models you add with your own API key, scoped to your workspace.

## Model tiers [#model-tiers]

System models are grouped into tiers, and access is gated by your plan's capability tier.
Higher tiers unlock more capable models. The dashboard shows a lock and an upgrade prompt on
models above your current tier.

## Choosing a model [#choosing-a-model]

| Use case                                         | Look for                                                 |
| ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Simple FAQ agents, lowest cost, fastest response | A fast, lower-tier model                                 |
| General-purpose agents                           | The balanced default tier — the best fit for most agents |
| Complex decisions, multi-step reasoning          | A higher-tier reasoning model                            |
| Multi-language agents                            | A model with strong non-English support                  |
| Document-heavy agents needing very large context | A model with an extended context window                  |

Pair model choice with **temperature** (0.0–1.0): lower values produce more precise, repeatable
answers; higher values are more conversational. Support and factual agents generally want
0.1–0.4.

## Reasoning effort [#reasoning-effort]

Some models can work through a problem internally before they answer. On those models, the agent's
model drawer shows a **Reasoning effort** setting with three levels:

| Level  | Use it for                                                                    |
| ------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Low    | Straightforward questions where speed and cost matter more than depth         |
| Medium | A middle ground — more care than Low without Low's ceiling                    |
| High   | Multi-step decisions, ambiguous requests, anything the agent gets wrong today |

More effort means a slower, more expensive answer, so raise it only where the extra care earns its
keep. Leave it unset and the model reasons at its own default depth — a reasoning-capable model
thinks through a request whether or not you pick a level, so the setting steers how much reasoning
happens rather than whether it happens at all.

The setting only appears on models that support it — pick a different model and it disappears, and
the agent goes back to that model's default behaviour. The agent's internal reasoning is never shown
to the person chatting, whichever level you choose — KlicForge actively watches for reasoning that
leaks into a reply and rewrites the answer before it goes out, so an occasional slower or re-worded
response from a reasoning-capable model is this working, not a fault. There is no separate switch to
turn reasoning off; pick a model that does not reason if the extra latency is not worth it.

## Bring your own key (BYOK) [#bring-your-own-key-byok]

Custom models route an agent to your own LLM provider account — useful for a specific model,
your own rate limits, or your own billing relationship with a provider.

### Supported providers [#supported-providers]

| Provider   | API key required | Notes                                   |
| ---------- | ---------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| OpenRouter | Yes              |                                         |
| OpenAI     | Yes              |                                         |
| Ollama     | No               | Self-hosted; point at your own base URL |

KlicForge's own platform-billed providers are not available for BYOK.

### Requirements [#requirements]

Creating custom models requires the Pro capability tier (Business plan or higher), and is
restricted to workspace owners and admins.

### Adding a custom model [#adding-a-custom-model]

1. Go to **Settings → Models**.
2. Select **Add custom model** and choose a provider.
3. Enter the model label, provider model ID, your API key (for OpenRouter or OpenAI), and an
   optional base URL.
4. Set capabilities — chat, image generation, video generation — plus input and output
   modalities and metadata such as context window and description.
5. Save. The model becomes available for assignment to any of your agents.

### How API keys are handled [#how-api-keys-are-handled]

* Keys are write-only — the dashboard only ever shows whether credentials are set, never the
  key itself.
* On edit, the key field is masked; select **Rotate key** to enter a new one.
* Keys are encrypted at rest and used only transiently to authenticate outbound requests to the
  provider. They are never logged or stored in plaintext.

## Related pages [#related-pages]

* [Agents](/agents)
* [Plan limits](/reference/plan-limits)