Models / Providers

Anthropic

Anthropic builds the Claude model family. Genesis supports two auth routes:

• API key — direct Anthropic API access with usage-based billing (anthropic/* models)
• Claude CLI — reuse an existing Claude CLI login on the same host

Getting started

API key

Best for: standard API access and usage-based billing.

Get your API key

Create an API key in the Anthropic Console.

Run onboarding

genesis onboard
# choose: Anthropic API key

Or pass the key directly:

genesis onboard --anthropic-api-key "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"

Verify the model is available

genesis models list --provider anthropic

Config example

{
  env: { ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: "sk-ant-..." },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6" } } },
}

Claude CLI

Best for: reusing an existing Claude CLI login without a separate API key.

Ensure Claude CLI is installed and logged in

Verify with:

claude --version

Run onboarding

genesis onboard
# choose: Claude CLI

Genesis detects and reuses the existing Claude CLI credentials.

Verify the model is available

genesis models list --provider anthropic

Thinking defaults (Claude 4.6)

Claude 4.6 models default to adaptive thinking in Genesis when no explicit thinking level is set.

Override per-message with /think:<level> or in model params:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": {
          params: { thinking: "adaptive" },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Prompt caching

Genesis supports Anthropic's prompt caching feature for API-key auth.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": {
          params: { cacheRetention: "long" },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Per-agent cache overrides

Use model-level params as your baseline, then override specific agents via agents.list[].params:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6" },
      models: {
        "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": {
          params: { cacheRetention: "long" },
        },
      },
    },
    list: [
      { id: "research", default: true },
      { id: "alerts", params: { cacheRetention: "none" } },
    ],
  },
}

Config merge order:

1. agents.defaults.models["provider/model"].params
2. agents.list[].params (matching id, overrides by key)

This lets one agent keep a long-lived cache while another agent on the same model disables caching for bursty/low-reuse traffic.

Bedrock Claude notes

• Anthropic Claude models on Bedrock (amazon-bedrock/*anthropic.claude*) accept cacheRetention pass-through when configured.
• Non-Anthropic Bedrock models are forced to cacheRetention: "none" at runtime.
• API-key smart defaults also seed cacheRetention: "short" for Claude-on-Bedrock refs when no explicit value is set.

Advanced configuration

Fast mode

Genesis's shared /fast toggle supports direct Anthropic traffic (API-key and OAuth to api.anthropic.com).

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6": {
          params: { fastMode: true },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Media understanding (image and PDF)

The bundled Anthropic plugin registers image and PDF understanding. Genesis auto-resolves media capabilities from the configured Anthropic auth — no additional config is needed.

When an image or PDF is attached to a conversation, Genesis automatically routes it through the Anthropic media understanding provider.

1M context window (beta)

Anthropic's 1M context window is beta-gated. Enable it per model:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": {
          params: { context1m: true },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Genesis maps this to anthropic-beta: context-1m-2025-08-07 on requests.

Claude Opus 4.7 1M context

anthropic/claude-opus-4.7 and its claude-cli variant have a 1M context window by default — no params.context1m: true needed.

Troubleshooting

401 errors / token suddenly invalid

Anthropic token auth expires and can be revoked. For new setups, use an Anthropic API key instead.

Accordion

Anthropic auth is per agent — new agents do not inherit the main agent's keys. Re-run onboarding for that agent (or configure an API key on the gateway host), then verify with genesis models status.

Accordion

Run genesis models status to see which auth profile is active. Re-run onboarding, or configure an API key for that profile path.

No available auth profile (all in cooldown)

Check genesis models status --json for auth.unusableProfiles. Anthropic rate-limit cooldowns can be model-scoped, so a sibling Anthropic model may still be usable. Add another Anthropic profile or wait for cooldown.

Related

• Model selection Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.

• CLI backends Claude CLI backend setup and runtime details.

• Prompt caching How prompt caching works across providers.

• OAuth and auth Auth details and credential reuse rules.