LLM configuration

This guide explains how to configure LLM providers in Papra. Once a provider is configured, it can be used to power AI features like document auto tagging.

Enabling AI features

AI features are disabled by default. To enable them, set the master switch:

AI_IS_ENABLED=true

You then need to configure at least one provider (see below) and pick a default model.

Model nomenclature

In order to use different models from potentially different providers, Papra uses a specific nomenclature to identify a model: <adapter>://<model_name>.

For example:

• openai://gpt-4o-mini
• ollama://qwen3:8b
• anthropic://claude-haiku-4-5
• mistral://mistral-small-latest
• openrouter://openai/gpt-5.1

The <adapter> part is the id of one of the built-in adapters (see Supported providers).

Default model

The AI_DEFAULT_MODEL variable defines which model is used by AI features when no more specific model is configured:

AI_DEFAULT_MODEL=openai://gpt-4o-mini

Individual features can override this. For example, auto tagging reads AUTO_TAGGING_MODEL first and falls back to AI_DEFAULT_MODEL if it is not set.

Supported providers

Papra ships with adapters for the most common providers, plus support for any OpenAI-compatible API. Each adapter is configured with its own environment variables.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to see a provider added to Papra.

OpenAI-compatible providers

These adapters all speak the OpenAI API format and share the same two settings: a base URL and an API key. The defaults already point to each provider’s hosted API, so for the cloud providers you usually only need to set the API key.

Adapter (<adapter>)	Provider	API key	Base URL (default)
openai	OpenAI	OPENAI_API_KEY	OPENAI_BASE_URL (https://api.openai.com/v1)
mistral	Mistral	MISTRAL_API_KEY	MISTRAL_BASE_URL (https://api.mistral.ai/v1)
deepseek	DeepSeek	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY	DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL (https://api.deepseek.com/v1)
openrouter	OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY	OPENROUTER_BASE_URL (https://openrouter.ai/api/v1)
cocore	co/core	COCORE_API_KEY	COCORE_BASE_URL (https://cocore.dev/api/v1)
ollama	Ollama	OLLAMA_API_KEY (default ollama)	OLLAMA_BASE_URL (http://localhost:11434/v1)
lmstudio	LM Studio	LMSTUDIO_API_KEY (default lm-studio)	LMSTUDIO_BASE_URL (http://localhost:1234/v1)
vllm	vLLM	VLLM_API_KEY (default not-needed)	VLLM_BASE_URL (http://localhost:8000/v1)

Note

The base URL must include the API version path expected by the provider (e.g. the /v1 suffix for OpenAI-compatible APIs). The defaults already include it, so only override the base URL if you are pointing at a self-hosted or proxied endpoint.

Anthropic

Anthropic uses its own API and adapter (anthropic):

Setting	Environment variable
API key	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Base URL (optional)	ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL

Any other OpenAI-compatible provider

Because the OpenAI-compatible adapters are just a base URL and an API key, you can point any of them at another service. The most common approach is to reuse the openai adapter and override its base URL:

OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://your-provider.example.com/v1
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-api-key
AI_DEFAULT_MODEL=openai://your-model-name

Examples

OpenAI

AI_IS_ENABLED=true
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
AI_DEFAULT_MODEL=openai://gpt-4o-mini

Anthropic

AI_IS_ENABLED=true
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
AI_DEFAULT_MODEL=anthropic://claude-haiku-4-5

Ollama (local)

A local Ollama install is reachable on its default URL, so you only need to point Papra at the right adapter and model:

AI_IS_ENABLED=true
AI_DEFAULT_MODEL=ollama://qwen3:8b

If Ollama runs on another host or port, override the base URL (keep the /v1 suffix):

OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://ollama:11434/v1

Tip

When running Papra in Docker, localhost refers to the container itself. To reach an Ollama or LM Studio instance running on the host, use http://host.docker.internal:11434/v1 (or the host’s IP) instead of localhost.

Next steps

• Set up document auto tagging