Model providers and the AI switch
Every AI feature in Tracix, from Brain to Auto-Fix, runs on a model connection you add. This page shows how to connect a provider, choose which model each feature uses, set prices so spend caps work, and switch AI off for the whole workspace.
How AI features find a model
A model connection is a credential in your workspace: an Anthropic, OpenAI or compatible API key, with an optional base URL. Tracix lists the models each connection serves, so a new model is available the day its provider starts listing it.
A feature picks its model in this order:
- The model set in the feature's own settings, for the features that have them (Brain, Auto-Fix, workflows and agents, security agents and the SNMP profile generator).
- The model set for that feature under Per feature in AI Settings.
- The Preferred model in AI Settings.
If you never choose a connection, Tracix uses the first Anthropic API credential the person can use. Tracix does not provide a model of its own: until someone adds a credential, AI features have nothing to call.
Supported providers
| Provider | Credential type | What you enter | Model list | Prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Anthropic API | API key | Live from Anthropic, with each model's context window and output limit | Built-in table for Claude models |
| Anthropic-compatible gateway or proxy | Anthropic API | API key and the gateway's base URL | Live from the gateway | Built-in table for Claude models |
| OpenAI | OpenAI API | API key | Live, chat models only (limits not reported) | Set by an admin |
| OpenAI-compatible server, such as Ollama, vLLM, LM Studio, LiteLLM, OpenRouter, Groq or Together | OpenAI-compatible endpoint | Base URL (usually ending in /v1); API key if the server needs one | Live when the server lists its models; otherwise type the model ID | Read from OpenRouter and Together; otherwise set by an admin |
Your endpoint must be reachable from your workspace
Your workspace calls the provider from Tracix's cloud, so a model server you run must be reachable from there over the internet. Tracix blocks base URLs that resolve to private, loopback or link-local addresses. If a server does not list its models, type the model ID instead.
Connect a provider
Create the credential
Open Credentials in the console sidebar. In the New Credential panel, pick the Type (Anthropic API, OpenAI API or OpenAI-compatible endpoint), give it a Name and fill in the API key or base URL. A new credential is private to you: select Share with the team if other people's AI features should use it. Then select Save credential. Secret values are encrypted at rest and never shown again. Creating credentials needs permission to manage them, which admins have.
Choose it as the preferred model
Open AI & Automation › AI Settings and select the Models tab. Under Preferred model, pick the connection, then pick a model from its list or type a model ID.
Test the model
Select Test. Tracix runs one short Brain turn on the model and shows how long it took to answer, or the provider's error.
Save
Select Save models. Every AI feature without a model of its own now uses this one.
Choose a model per feature
Under Per feature, give a feature its own model, for example a smaller model for drafting SQL. A feature left empty uses the preferred model.
| Feature | Where it appears |
|---|---|
| Natural-language queries | Metrics Explorer |
| Draft a monitor from a description | Monitors |
| Draft alert SQL | Alerts |
| Alert sweep findings | Alerts |
| Draft an anomaly job | Anomaly detection |
| Generate a log pipeline | Log pipelines |
| Natural language to config, and vendor docs | Config Management |
| Workflow planning in Brain chat | Tracix Brain |
| Recommendation summaries | Databases |
These features keep their model in their own settings, and AI Settings links to each one under Set in the feature's own settings:
- Brain chat: the Brain profile, on the Brain tab of AI Settings. See Brain.
- Auto-Fix: Auto-Fix › Policies. See Workflows, agents and Auto-Fix.
- Workflows and agents: the Chat Model of each AI Agent node.
- Security agents: Security › Agent Governance can pin a model for each agent.
- SNMP profile generator: its own author and reviewer models.
Add a fallback model
Under Fallback model, pick a model for when the main one is rate limited, overloaded or not answering. Brain retries the main model briefly, then answers with the fallback and says so in the reply. A fallback on a different connection keeps Brain working through one provider's outage.
Set prices for spend caps
Spend caps and usage reports need a price for every model. Tracix reads prices from OpenRouter and Together, and prices Claude models from a built-in table. For any other model, add the price yourself.
Under Prices, select Add price and enter the input, output and cached input price in US dollars per million tokens for a connection. Leave the model empty to price every model on that connection that has no row of its own. Your price wins over a listed or built-in price, so use it for negotiated rates and for models you run yourself.
Unpriced is not free
A model with no price counts as unpriced, not as costing nothing. Add a price for every model you use, so spend caps such as Brain's daily budget can do their job.
Turn AI off for the workspace
The Usage tab holds the master switch, AI usage across Tracix. It is on in a new workspace. When you turn it off, no model or embedding provider is called anywhere in the console until you turn it back on.
Open the Usage tab
Open AI & Automation › AI Settings. The Usage tab opens first and shows whether AI is ON or OFF.
Turn it off
Select Turn off AI usage, then confirm with Turn off AI. Changing the switch requires an admin.
| Area | What happens while AI is off |
|---|---|
| Workflows & Agents | AI Agent and chain steps are skipped. Runs finish as partial, with a note on the step. |
| Brain & Auto-Fix | Brain stops answering, and Auto-Fix starts no fix a model would write. Reverts need no model, and fixes already awaiting approval keep waiting. |
| Natural language | Metrics NL→SQL, Config Management NL→config and log pipeline generation reply that AI is off. |
| Recommendations | Database recommendations fall back to their summary without AI. |
| Embeddings | Remote embedding providers are blocked; the local embedder keeps working. |
| Anomaly detection | Not affected. Anomaly jobs are statistical and make no model calls. |
Limit what agents can do
Two more tabs in AI Settings apply to every agent in the workspace:
- Tools lists the tools agents can use, grouped by category, such as code execution, web search, web fetch and Brain's own tools. Clear a tool's checkbox to take it away from every agent, or use Enable all and Disable all.
- Skills holds instructions agents can load, written as a
SKILL.md. Tracix includes a few, such as incident triage and safe code changes. Select Create skill, or Import one from a URL or pasted text, and switch each on or off.
Only admins, and custom roles with permission to manage AI settings, can change these tabs. Everyone else sees them read-only.