OpenShell/docs/sandboxes/manage-providers.mdx

---
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
title: "Providers"
sidebar-title: "Providers"
description: "Create and manage credential providers that inject API keys and tokens into OpenShell sandboxes."
keywords: "Generative AI, Cybersecurity, Providers, Credentials, API Keys, Sandbox, Security"
position: 3
---

AI agents typically need credentials to access external services: an API key for the AI model provider, a token for GitHub or GitLab, and so on. OpenShell manages these credentials as first-class entities called *providers*.

Create and manage providers that supply credentials to sandboxes.

<Info>
Providers v2 is available for profile-backed provider policy, provider-owned network rules, and gateway-managed credential refresh. This page remains the credential-focused provider command reference. For the new workflow, see [Providers v2](/sandboxes/providers-v2).
</Info>

Provider profiles include metadata for known endpoints and binaries. View
the available profiles before creating a provider:

```shell
openshell provider list-profiles
```

## Create a Provider

Providers can be created from local environment variables or with explicit credential values.

### From Local Credentials

The fastest way to create a provider is to let the CLI discover credentials from
your shell environment:

```shell
openshell provider create --name my-claude --type claude --from-existing
```

This reads `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` or `CLAUDE_API_KEY` from your current environment
and stores them in the provider.

### With Explicit Credentials

Supply a credential value directly:

```shell
openshell provider create --name my-api --type generic --credential API_KEY=sk-abc123
```

### Bare Key Form

Pass a key name without a value to read the value from the environment variable
of that name:

```shell
openshell provider create --name my-api --type generic --credential API_KEY
```

This looks up the current value of `$API_KEY` in your shell and stores it.

Provider profile metadata is available for known provider types. Provider profile
network policy is gateway opt-in:

```shell
openshell settings set --global --key providers_v2_enabled --value true
```

Without `providers_v2_enabled=true`, provider behavior remains credential-only.

When `providers_v2_enabled=true`, `--from-existing` uses profile-backed
discovery instead of the legacy provider registry. The requested `--type` must
have a built-in or imported provider profile with a `discovery` section. If no
matching profile exists, the CLI returns an error instead of falling back to
legacy discovery.

## Manage Providers

List, inspect, update, and delete providers from the active gateway.

List all providers:

```shell
openshell provider list
```

Inspect a provider:

```shell
openshell provider get my-claude
```

Update a provider's credentials:

```shell
openshell provider update my-claude --from-existing
```

Set or clear a credential expiry timestamp:

```shell
openshell provider update my-graph \
  --credential MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN="$MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  --credential-expires-at MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN=1767225600000
```

Use `0` as the timestamp to clear expiry for a credential key.

## Credential Refresh

Provider refresh stores non-injectable refresh material separately from the
provider's current credential values. The gateway can mint OAuth2 refresh-token
tokens, OAuth2 client credentials tokens, and Google service account JWT tokens,
then write the current access token back to the provider record for sandbox
injection.

Configure refresh metadata for one injectable credential key:

```shell
openshell provider refresh configure my-graph \
  --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN \
  --strategy oauth2-client-credentials \
  --material tenant_id="$TENANT_ID" \
  --material client_id="$CLIENT_ID" \
  --material client_secret="$CLIENT_SECRET" \
  --secret-material-key client_secret \
  --credential-expires-at 1767225600000
```

Check refresh status:

```shell
openshell provider refresh status my-graph
```

Delete refresh metadata for a credential:

```shell
openshell provider refresh delete my-graph \
  --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN
```

Force a gateway-managed refresh for one credential:

```shell
openshell provider refresh rotate my-graph --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN
```

External refresh systems should continue to push new current credentials through
`openshell provider update`. The `--credential-expires-at` option works for
static credentials, externally refreshed credentials, and gateway-managed
refresh strategies.

Delete a provider:

```shell
openshell provider delete my-claude
```

## Attach Providers to Sandboxes

Pass one or more `--provider` flags when creating a sandbox:

```shell
openshell sandbox create --provider my-claude --provider my-github -- claude
```

Each `--provider` flag attaches one provider. The sandbox receives all
credentials from every attached provider at runtime. Profile-managed providers
also contribute provider-generated network policy entries when
`providers_v2_enabled` is enabled at the gateway. When the setting is disabled,
providers keep the previous behavior and only provide credentials.

<Warning>
Legacy provider attachment is fixed at sandbox creation time. Providers v2 adds
`openshell sandbox provider attach` and `openshell sandbox provider detach` for
running sandboxes. See [Providers v2](/sandboxes/providers-v2#attach-and-detach-providers)
for runtime attach and detach behavior.

</Warning>

### Auto-Discovery Shortcut

When `providers_v2_enabled=false` and the trailing command in
`openshell sandbox create` is a recognized tool name (`claude`, `codex`, or
`opencode`), the CLI auto-creates the required provider from your local
credentials if one does not already exist. You do not need to create the
provider separately:

```shell
openshell sandbox create -- claude
```

This detects `claude` as a known tool, finds your `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, creates
a provider, attaches it to the sandbox, and launches Claude Code.

Providers v2 disables command-derived provider inference. When
`providers_v2_enabled=true`, create or import the provider profile, create the
provider instance, and pass `--provider <name>` explicitly.

## How Credential Injection Works

The agent process inside the sandbox never sees real credential values. At startup, the proxy replaces each credential with an opaque placeholder token in the agent's environment. When the agent sends an HTTP request containing a placeholder, the proxy resolves it to the real credential before forwarding upstream.

This resolution requires the proxy to see plaintext HTTP. Endpoints must use `protocol: rest` in the policy (which auto-terminates TLS) or explicit `tls: terminate`. Endpoints without TLS termination pass traffic through as an opaque stream, and credential placeholders are forwarded unresolved.

### Supported injection locations

The proxy resolves credential placeholders in the following parts of an HTTP request:

| Location | How the agent uses it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Header value | Agent reads `$API_KEY` from env and places it in a header. | `Authorization: Bearer <placeholder>` |
| Header value (Basic auth) | Agent base64-encodes `user:<placeholder>` in an `Authorization: Basic` header. The proxy decodes, resolves, and re-encodes. | `Authorization: Basic <base64>` |
| Query parameter value | Agent places the placeholder in a URL query parameter. | `GET /api?key=<placeholder>` |
| URL path segment | Agent builds a URL with the placeholder in the path. Supports concatenated patterns. | `POST /bot<placeholder>/sendMessage` |

The proxy does not modify request bodies, cookies, or response content.

### Fail-closed behavior

If the proxy detects a credential placeholder in a request but cannot resolve it, it rejects the request with HTTP 500 instead of forwarding the raw placeholder to the upstream server. This prevents accidental credential leakage in server logs or error responses.

### Example: Telegram Bot API (path-based credential)

Create a provider with the Telegram bot token:

```shell
openshell provider create --name telegram --type generic --credential TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456:ABC-DEF
```

The agent reads `TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN` from its environment and builds a request like `POST /bot<placeholder>/sendMessage`. The proxy resolves the placeholder in the URL path and forwards `POST /bot123456:ABC-DEF/sendMessage` to the upstream.

### Example: Google API (query parameter credential)

```shell
openshell provider create --name google --type generic --credential YOUTUBE_API_KEY=AIzaSy-secret
```

The agent sends `GET /youtube/v3/search?part=snippet&key=<placeholder>`. The proxy resolves the placeholder in the query parameter value and percent-encodes the result before forwarding.

## Supported Provider Types

The following provider types are supported.

| Type | Environment Variables Injected | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| `anthropic` | `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` | Anthropic API |
| `claude` | `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `CLAUDE_API_KEY` | Claude Code, Anthropic API |
| `codex` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` | OpenAI Codex |
| `copilot` | `COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN`, `GH_TOKEN`, `GITHUB_TOKEN` | GitHub Copilot CLI |
| `generic` | User-defined | Any service with custom credentials |
| `github` | `GITHUB_TOKEN`, `GH_TOKEN` | GitHub API and `gh` CLI. Refer to [GitHub Sandbox](/get-started/tutorials/github-sandbox). |
| `gitlab` | `GITLAB_TOKEN`, `GLAB_TOKEN`, `CI_JOB_TOKEN` | GitLab API, `glab` CLI |
| `nvidia` | `NVIDIA_API_KEY` | NVIDIA API Catalog |
| `openai` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` | Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Set `--config OPENAI_BASE_URL` to point to the provider. Refer to [Inference Routing](/sandboxes/inference-routing). |
| `opencode` | `OPENCODE_API_KEY`, `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_API_KEY` | OpenCode |

<Tip>
Use the `generic` type for any service not listed above. You define the
environment variable names and values yourself with `--credential`.

</Tip>

## Supported Inference Providers

The following providers have been tested with `inference.local`. Any provider that exposes an OpenAI-compatible API works with the `openai` type. Set `--config OPENAI_BASE_URL` to the provider's base URL and `--credential OPENAI_API_KEY` to your API key.

| Provider | Name | Type | Base URL | API Key Variable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA API Catalog | `nvidia-prod` | `nvidia` | `https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1` | `NVIDIA_API_KEY` |
| Anthropic | `anthropic-prod` | `anthropic` | `https://api.anthropic.com` | `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` |
| Baseten | `baseten` | `openai` | `https://inference.baseten.co/v1` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| Bitdeer AI | `bitdeer` | `openai` | `https://api-inference.bitdeer.ai/v1` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| Deepinfra | `deepinfra` | `openai` | `https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| Groq | `groq` | `openai` | `https://api.groq.com/openai/v1` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| Ollama (local) | `ollama` | `openai` | `http://host.openshell.internal:11434/v1` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| LM Studio (local) | `lmstudio` | `openai` | `http://host.openshell.internal:1234/v1` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |

Refer to your provider's documentation for the correct base URL, available models, and API key setup. To configure inference routing, refer to [Inference Routing](/sandboxes/inference-routing).

## Next Steps

Explore related topics:

- To control what the agent can access, refer to [Policies](/sandboxes/policies).
- To use the base sandbox container, refer to [Sandboxes](/sandboxes/manage-sandboxes#base-sandbox-container).
- To view the complete field reference for the policy YAML, refer to the [Policy Schema Reference](/reference/policy-schema).