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Cloud model providers

Alongside the models that run on your machine, Mother can use models hosted by external providers (such as OpenAI or Anthropic). Cloud models never load locally — requests route to the provider with your credentials.

Setting up access​

Owner only.

  1. Get an API key from the provider you want to use.
  2. In Settings → Model providers, add the provider and paste its key. Mother stores the credential on your machine and uses it only for provider calls.
  3. The provider's models appear in Models marked as cloud models, with their context window and cost metadata resolved from Mother's catalog.

Removing a provider removes its models from pickers; sessions keep their history but cannot start new cloud requests with it.

Selecting cloud models in Genesis sessions​

In Genesis, pick a cloud model by provider + model, for example anthropic + claude-sonnet-4-6:

  • When creating a session, choose the provider's model as the session model.
  • You can switch models mid-session — subsequent messages use the new selection.
  • You do not need to set context window or token limits for cataloged models; Mother resolves them for you.
  • Tool use, file access, and projects work the same with cloud models as with local ones. Remember the trade-off: cloud requests leave your machine to the provider you configured.

Costs and limits​

Cloud usage is billed by the provider under your account. Model cost metadata shown in Models comes from Mother's catalog and is informational — check your provider for authoritative usage and billing.