Skip to content
PiaDocs

AI Providers

Pia works with multiple AI providers. You can use one provider for everything or assign different providers to different conversation modes (Optimize and Assistant).

Supported Providers

Section titled “Supported Providers”

These are the provider types Pia offers. This table is the canonical list — other pages link here rather than repeat it.

Provider Models API Key Required Web Search
Pia Cloud Server-proxied AI Pia account No
OpenAI GPT-4o, GPT-4o-mini Yes Optional
Anthropic Claude models Yes Optional
Azure OpenAI Your deployed models Yes No
OpenRouter Many models, many vendors Yes Optional
Mistral mistral-large, etc. Yes Via Mistral Agent
Ollama Local models on your machine No No
OpenAI-compatible Any endpoint speaking the OpenAI API Depends on the endpoint No
vLLM A vLLM server you run Depends on your server No

Ollama, OpenAI-compatible and vLLM are the routes to running Pia against a model on your own hardware, with no prompt leaving your machine.

Anthropic

Section titled “Anthropic”

Anthropic reaches Claude models on your own API key. Pick it in Settings → AI Providers, enter a Claude model name, and the endpoint fills in as https://api.anthropic.com. Two options are worth knowing about:

  • Enable web search lets Claude look things up itself while it answers, instead of relying on what it already knows.
  • Cache the prompt prefix (5 min) makes a long conversation re-read its history instead of paying for it again on every turn. It costs a little more on the first turn, so leave it off for short prompts and turn it on where the same long instructions come back turn after turn. This option exists on Anthropic providers only — no other provider here takes a cache directive.

An Anthropic provider does not enable image attachments or screen capture. Those still need Pia Cloud. See File Attachments.

Adding a Provider

Section titled “Adding a Provider”
  1. Open Settings → Providers
  2. Click Add Provider
  3. Choose a provider type from the list above (every type except Pia Cloud can be added by hand)
  4. Enter your API key (and endpoint URL if using Azure OpenAI, Ollama, OpenAI-compatible or vLLM)
  5. Select a model
  6. Click Save

Your API keys are stored locally on your device and are never sent to Pia servers.

Default Providers and Modes

Section titled “Default Providers and Modes”

Pia has two conversation modes — Optimize and Assistant. Each mode can use a different AI provider.

Same provider for all modes

Section titled “Same provider for all modes”
  1. Open Settings → Providers
  2. Check Use same provider for all modes
  3. Pick a provider from the dropdown

Different providers per mode

Section titled “Different providers per mode”
  1. Open Settings → Providers
  2. Uncheck Use same provider for all modes
  3. Use the separate dropdowns to assign a provider for each mode — Optimize and Assistant

Provider List

Section titled “Provider List”

The right side of the settings screen shows all your configured providers as cards. Each card displays:

  • Provider name and type
  • Endpoint and model name
  • Mode badges — colored labels showing which modes use that provider (Optimize, Assistant)
  • Capability badges — warnings if a provider is missing support for certain advanced features

If a provider has connection issues, a fail reason badge appears on its card.

Managing Providers

Section titled “Managing Providers”

Each provider card has actions you can use:

  • Test Connection — checks that your API key and endpoint are working. A spinner shows while the test runs.
  • Edit — update the provider’s settings, API key, or model.
  • Delete — remove the provider. Built-in providers like Pia Cloud cannot be deleted.
Section titled “Web Search”

OpenAI and OpenRouter providers can search the web to help answer your questions. To turn it on:

  1. Open Settings → Providers
  2. Click Edit on an OpenAI or OpenRouter provider
  3. Tick Enable web search
  4. Click Save

Mistral Agents

Section titled “Mistral Agents”

When you edit a Mistral provider, there’s an optional Mistral Agent ID field. Leave it blank for normal Mistral use, or paste an Agent ID to connect a Mistral Agent that has built-in tools.

Web search for Mistral depends on the agent you connect — its tools determine what the agent can do.

Cloud Sync

Section titled “Cloud Sync”

Cloud Sync lets you keep your conversations and settings in sync across multiple devices and is required to use Pia Cloud. If Cloud Sync isn’t set up yet, a banner appears at the top of the AI Provider settings. Click the link in the banner to go to Cloud Sync settings and connect your Pia account.

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”

Ready to start chatting? Head to Your First Conversation to learn about conversation modes.

For a side-by-side of what leaves your device in each setup, see Where your data goes.