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Pia Docs

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”
ProviderModelsAPI Key RequiredWeb Search
OpenAIGPT-4o, GPT-4o-miniYesOptional
OpenRouterMany modelsYesOptional
Azure OpenAIYour deployed modelsYesNo
AnthropicClaude 4.5, Claude 4.6YesNo
Mistralmistral-large, etc.YesVia Mistral Agent
Pia CloudServer-proxied AIPia accountNo

Adding a Provider

Section titled “Adding a Provider”
  1. Open Settings → AI Provider
  2. Click Add Provider
  3. Choose a provider type (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or Anthropic)
  4. Enter your API key (and endpoint URL if using Azure OpenAI)
  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 → AI Provider
  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 → AI Provider
  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 → AI Provider
  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.