URL: /drover/reference/model

---
title: "@drover/model"
description: pi-ai wrapper. Alias resolution, reasoning gates, per-provider env keys.
---

## `resolveModel`

```ts
function resolveModel(
  spec: ModelSpec,
  opts: { runId: string; aliases?: AliasMap; env?: Env },
): Effect<ResolvedModel, ModelError>;

interface ResolvedModel {
  model: Model<KnownApi>;        // pi-ai's typed model record
  apiKey: string;
  reasoning?: ReasoningLevel;
  temperature?: number;
  maxTokens?: number;
}
```

Lookup order:
1. Alias map (custom ∪ `DEFAULT_ALIASES`).
2. Provider-prefixed slug `provider:modelId`.
3. Search every pi-ai provider for a model whose id equals `name`.

Failure modes (all `ModelError`):
- `routing_miss`: name not found.
- `auth`: provider's env vars unset.
- `provider_error`: pi-ai threw.

## Reasoning slug

`"name:reasoning"` parses cleanly. Valid reasoning levels:
`minimal | low | medium | high | xhigh`.

For models that declare `reasoning: true` in pi-ai's registry,
omitting a level defaults to `"medium"` (verified necessary for
gpt-5-mini and similar — without it the model returns no final text).

## `DEFAULT_ALIASES`

| alias | resolves to | $/Mtok in/out |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `default` / `cheap` / `flash` | `openrouter/google/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview` | 0.25 / 1.50 |
| `grok` | `openrouter/x-ai/grok-4-fast` | 0.20 / 0.50 |
| `mini` | `openrouter/openai/gpt-5-mini` | 0.25 / 2.00 |
| `nano` | `openrouter/openai/gpt-5-nano` | 0.05 / 0.40 |
| `haiku` | `openrouter/anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5` | 1.00 / 5.00 |
| `sonnet` | `openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6` | (frontier) |
| `deepseek` | `openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v3.2` | 0.25 / 0.38 |
| `glm` | `openrouter/z-ai/glm-4.7` | 0.38 / 1.74 |

All routed through OpenRouter. Override the map per project via
`withAliases({...})` or replace entirely.

## `withAliases`

```ts
function withAliases(
  ...layers: ReadonlyArray<AliasMap>
): AliasMap;
```

Merge user overrides on top of `DEFAULT_ALIASES`. Later layers win.

## Provider env keys

| provider | env var(s) |
| --- | --- |
| `openrouter` | `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` |
| `openai` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| `anthropic` | `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN` |
| `google` | `GOOGLE_API_KEY`, `GEMINI_API_KEY` |
| `groq` | `GROQ_API_KEY` |
| `deepseek` | `DEEPSEEK_API_KEY` |
| `mistral` | `MISTRAL_API_KEY` |
| `cerebras` | `CEREBRAS_API_KEY` |

First match wins. To add a provider, set the env var and reference it
in your spec / alias.