BaseProvider interface and is instantiated lazily on first use.
Common fields
Every provider block supports these fields:Cloud providers
Deepgram
Modalities: STT, TTS. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: deepgram/nova-3 (best accuracy), deepgram/nova-2 (lower cost), deepgram/aura-asteria-en (TTS).
OpenAI
Modalities: STT, LLM, TTS. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: openai/whisper-1 (STT), openai/gpt-4.1-mini (LLM, balanced), openai/gpt-4.1 (LLM, best quality), openai/tts-1 (TTS, fast), openai/tts-1-hd (TTS, high quality).
Anthropic
Modalities: LLM. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5 (balanced), anthropic/claude-opus-4-1 (highest quality).
Groq
Modalities: STT, LLM. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: groq/whisper-large-v3 (STT), groq/llama-3.3-70b-versatile, groq/llama-3.1-8b-instant (LLM).
Cartesia
Modalities: TTS. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: cartesia/sonic-3 (latest, best quality, low latency).
ElevenLabs
Modalities: TTS. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: elevenlabs/eleven_multilingual_v2 (29 languages), elevenlabs/eleven_turbo_v2_5.
AssemblyAI
Modalities: STT. Required:api_key.
Recommended models: assemblyai/universal-2 (single-tier, streaming and batch).
Local providers
Local providers run on your own hardware with no API keys required. They suit development, privacy-sensitive deployments, and offline operation.Whisper
Modalities: STT. No API key required; model weights download on first use. Recommended models:local/whisper-large-v3 (best accuracy), local/whisper-base (fastest). Requires a capable CPU or GPU.
Ollama
Modalities: LLM. Required: a running Ollama server. Recommended models:ollama/llama3.2:3b, ollama/mistral:7b, ollama/phi3:mini. Use docker compose --profile local up -d to start Ollama alongside VoiceGateway.
Kokoro
Modalities: TTS. No API key required. Recommended models:local/kokoro. Lightweight local TTS, good for development and testing.
Piper
Modalities: TTS. No API key required; ONNX voice models download on first use. Recommended models:local/piper:en_US-lessac-medium, local/piper:en_US-amy-low. The voice ID follows the colon.
Provider modality matrix
Per-project provider keys
The top-levelproviders block sets the default keys. Each project can override the keys it uses with its own providers block:
DB-managed providers
Beyond YAML, providers can be added at runtime via the MCP server or the dashboard. These rows live in themanaged_providers table with their API keys Fernet-encrypted by VOICEGW_SECRET. The resolution order is: YAML providers (top-level + per-project) first, then DB-managed providers for any missing entries.
See voicegw.yaml reference for the full config file shape. See Models for the
provider/model string format.