Providers
The model is a single provider/model string, dispatched through instructor. Choose it with --model or the SAGA_MODEL environment variable, and set the matching API key:
| Provider | --model example | API key env var |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | anthropic/claude-opus-4-8 | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
| OpenAI | openai/gpt-4o | OPENAI_API_KEY |
| OpenRouter | openrouter/anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet | OPENROUTER_API_KEY |
| Local | local/qwen2.5-coder:14b | none |
| Claude CLI | claude-cli or claude-cli/sonnet | none (Claude Code login) |
export SAGA_MODEL=openai/gpt-4o
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-…
saga --base main --head my-feature -o saga.html
Local LLMs (Ollama / LM Studio)
A local/ model runs against any OpenAI-compatible local server, with no API key. Pull a capable coder model first (ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:14b), then:
saga --model local/qwen2.5-coder:14b --base main --head my-feature
local/ defaults to Ollama’s endpoint (http://localhost:11434/v1). Point it at another server — e.g. LM Studio — with SAGA_LOCAL_BASE_URL:
export SAGA_LOCAL_BASE_URL=http://localhost:1234/v1 # LM Studio
saga --model local/your-loaded-model --base main --head my-feature
Two caveats: saga requires schema-valid JSON output, so use an instruction-tuned model that follows JSON prompting reliably; and the full diff plus a 16k output budget can exceed a small model’s context window — prefer larger-context models and expect weaker narration than a frontier hosted model.
Claude Code CLI (no API key)
If you don’t have an Anthropic API key but you are logged into the Claude Code CLI — for example with a Claude Pro/Max subscription — the claude-cli model routes generation through claude -p instead of the API, reusing that login:
saga --model claude-cli --base main --head my-feature
saga --model claude-cli/sonnet --base main --head my-feature # pin a model
This shells out to the claude binary (which must be on your PATH and logged in), constrains its output to saga’s schema via --json-schema, and runs it as a plain transform with no tools. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN are dropped for the subprocess so it uses your Claude Code login rather than silently billing an API key. It is slower than a direct API call (Claude Code boots an agent per run) and subject to your subscription’s usage limits.