> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ardent.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Models

> Your choice of foundation models to power your agents

**Models** provide the base intelligence available to [agents](/concepts/agents).
Conceptually, an agent is a model plus whatever custom capabilities ([tools](/concepts/tools),
[prompts](/concepts/prompts), etc.) that you build.

The Ardent platform has support for models from the three providers ([OpenAI](https://openai.com),
[Anthropic](https://anthropic.com), and [Google](https://gemini.google.com)), and we're planning
to add support for open source (or open weights) models (Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek, etc.) in the
near future.

## Assigning a model

The [Ardent SDK](/reference/sdk) provides adapters for each of the model providers supported by
the platform. For example, this agent will use Anthropic's [Claude Opus 4](https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4) model:

```ts theme={null}
import { Agent, anthropic } from '@ardent-ai/sdk';

const agent = new Agent({
  model: anthropic('claude-4-0-opus')
});

export default agent;
```

You can read more about the adapters and the settings available for each model in the SDK reference:

* [Anthropic](/reference/models/anthropic)
* [OpenAI](/reference/models/openai)
* [Gemini](/reference/models/gemini)

## Model API keys

While Ardent is in early access, you will need to provide your own API key to allow your
agents to call out to the model provider of your choosing.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose a model provider">
    Select the model provider that you'd like to use. Each model has strengths and weaknesses, as well
    as different costs, so you might need to experiment to find the one that works best for your use
    case.

    (If you aren't sure, we recommend starting with Anthropic!)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a developer account">
    Create a developer account with your chosen model provider.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Get an API key for your account">
    Find or create an API key using the model provider's web app, and copy it to your clipboard.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a secret for your API key">
    Navigate to the secrets page in your workspace settings in the [Ardent app](https://app.ardent.ai)
    and create a new secret. We recommend using the default name for the secret, but you can change
    it if you choose.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the secret name to your agent code (optional)">
    If you used the default secret name in the previous step, you won't need to do anything special
    in your agent code. If you chose a custom name, you'll need to reference it in your agent.
    For more information on how to set a custom secret name, see the [SDK reference](/reference/models/overview).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## See also

* [Models](/reference/models/overview) in the SDK reference