Providers

What Is a Provider

Each model on the platform may be backed by multiple providers. Providers are service nodes organized by source and cost — different providers have different pricing multipliers and model availability. When you send a request, the system automatically selects an available provider based on your token configuration. If a provider fails or times out, the system automatically retries another one — fully transparent to your code.

Available Providers

ID	Name	Description
`official`	Official	A provider group that aggregates direct connections to all major official platforms (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.); highest stability
`official_cheap`	Official (Discounted)	A cost-optimized version of official channels; high stability at a lower price
`mix`	Mixed	Multi-source mixed channels; lowest price, widest model coverage

About `official`

official is a provider group that bundles nodes from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, and other major official platforms. When you select official, the system performs intelligent routing and failover across all official nodes — no need to specify each vendor individually.

How to Choose

Your need	Recommended config
Maximum stability, price not a concern	`official`
Good stability with better value	`official_cheap`
Lowest cost, minor instability acceptable	`mix`
Try discounted official first, fall back to mixed	`official_cheap,mix`

Configuring Providers in a Token

When creating or editing a token, you can set the default routing behavior for that token.

Provider List

Specifies which providers this token is allowed to use.

Leave empty (recommended): Automatically routes across all available providers for best availability
Single provider: e.g. official — routes only through official nodes
Multiple providers: Comma-separated, e.g. official_cheap,mix — tried in order or by sort strategy

Provider-Only Mode

Off (default): Specified providers are prioritized; falls back to others if all fail
On: Strictly limited to the specified providers — if all fail, returns an error with no fallback

Sort Strategy

When multiple providers are specified, controls the order they are tried:

Manual (default): Tried in the order you listed them
Latency: Prioritizes the fastest-responding provider
Price: Prioritizes the lowest-cost provider
Throughput: Prioritizes the highest-throughput provider

Overriding Providers Per Request

You can also temporarily override token settings for a single request via headers — no token changes needed.

Header	Effect
`X-Provider-Order`	Specifies the providers and order for this request
`X-Provider-Only`	`"true"` enables strict mode — no fallback
`X-Provider-Sort`	Overrides the sort strategy (`latency` / `price` / `throughput`)
`X-Provider-Ignore`	Providers to skip for this request, stacked on top of token config

Providers specified via headers are still subject to your account permissions.

Examples

Try discounted official first, fall back to mixed on failure

curl https://api.ephone.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-your-token" \
  -H "X-Provider-Order: official_cheap,mix" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "gpt-4o", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'

Strict official-only, no fallback allowed

curl https://api.ephone.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-your-token" \
  -H "X-Provider-Order: official" \
  -H "X-Provider-Only: true" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "claude-opus-4-5-20251101", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'

Set default headers in your SDK client

import openai

client = openai.OpenAI(
    api_key="sk-your-token",
    base_url="https://api.ephone.ai/v1",
    default_headers={
        "X-Provider-Order": "official_cheap,mix",
    }
)

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: "sk-your-token",
  baseURL: "https://api.ephone.ai/v1",
  defaultHeaders: {
    "X-Provider-Order": "official_cheap,mix",
  }
});

Getting Started

Models & Services

Usage Guide

What Is a Provider

Available Providers

About `official`

How to Choose

Configuring Providers in a Token

Provider List

Provider-Only Mode

Sort Strategy

Overriding Providers Per Request

Examples

​What Is a Provider

​Available Providers

​About official

​How to Choose

​Configuring Providers in a Token

​Provider List

​Provider-Only Mode

​Sort Strategy

​Overriding Providers Per Request

​Examples

What Is a Provider

Available Providers

About `official`

How to Choose

Configuring Providers in a Token

Provider List

Provider-Only Mode

Sort Strategy

Overriding Providers Per Request

Examples