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This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.
## Documentation
Documentation lives in a separate repository: [BerriAI/litellm-docs](https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm-docs). It is served at [docs.litellm.ai](https://docs.litellm.ai). Do not create or edit documentation files in this repository — open doc PRs against `BerriAI/litellm-docs` instead.
## Development Commands
### Installation
- `make install-dev` - Install core development dependencies
- `make install-proxy-dev` - Install proxy development dependencies with full feature set
- `make install-test-deps` - Install the full local test environment and generate the Prisma client
### Testing
- `make test` - Run all tests
- `make test-unit` - Run unit tests (tests/test_litellm) with 4 parallel workers
- `make test-integration` - Run integration tests (excludes unit tests)
- `pytest tests/` - Direct pytest execution
### Code Quality
- `make lint` - Run all linting (Ruff, MyPy, Black, circular imports, import safety)
- `make format` - Apply Black code formatting
- `make lint-ruff` - Run Ruff linting only
- `make lint-mypy` - Run MyPy type checking only
- **Before committing, always run `uv run black .` to format your code.** Black formatting is enforced in CI.
### Single Test Files
- `uv run pytest tests/path/to/test_file.py -v` - Run specific test file
- `uv run pytest tests/path/to/test_file.py::test_function -v` - Run specific test
### Running Scripts
- `uv run python script.py` - Run Python scripts (use for non-test files)
### GitHub Issue & PR Templates
When contributing to the project, use the appropriate templates:
**Bug Reports** (`.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml`):
- Describe what happened vs. what you expected
- Include relevant log output
- Specify your LiteLLM version
**Feature Requests** (`.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/feature_request.yml`):
- Describe the feature clearly
- Explain the motivation and use case
**Pull Requests** (`.github/pull_request_template.md`):
- Add at least 1 test in `tests/litellm/`
- Ensure `make test-unit` passes
## Architecture Overview
LiteLLM is a unified interface for 100+ LLM providers with two main components:
### Core Library (`litellm/`)
- **Main entry point**: `litellm/main.py` - Contains core completion() function
- **Provider implementations**: `litellm/llms/` - Each provider has its own subdirectory
- **Router system**: `litellm/router.py` + `litellm/router_utils/` - Load balancing and fallback logic
- **Type definitions**: `litellm/types/` - Pydantic models and type hints
- **Integrations**: `litellm/integrations/` - Third-party observability, caching, logging
- **Caching**: `litellm/caching/` - Multiple cache backends (Redis, in-memory, S3, etc.)
### Proxy Server (`litellm/proxy/`)
- **Main server**: `proxy_server.py` - FastAPI application
- **Authentication**: `auth/` - API key management, JWT, OAuth2
- **Database**: `db/` - Prisma ORM with PostgreSQL/SQLite support
- **Management endpoints**: `management_endpoints/` - Admin APIs for keys, teams, models
- **Pass-through endpoints**: `pass_through_endpoints/` - Provider-specific API forwarding
- **Guardrails**: `guardrails/` - Safety and content filtering hooks
- **UI Dashboard**: Served from `_experimental/out/` (Next.js build)
## Key Patterns
### Provider Implementation
- Providers inherit from base classes in `litellm/llms/base.py`
- Each provider has transformation functions for input/output formatting
- Support both sync and async operations
- Handle streaming responses and function calling
### Error Handling
- Provider-specific exceptions mapped to OpenAI-compatible errors
- Fallback logic handled by Router system
- Comprehensive logging through `litellm/_logging.py`
### Configuration
- YAML config files for proxy server (see `proxy/example_config_yaml/`)
- Environment variables for API keys and settings
- Database schema managed via Prisma (`proxy/schema.prisma`)
## Development Notes
### Code Style
- Uses Black formatter, Ruff linter, MyPy type checker
- Pydantic v2 for data validation
- Async/await patterns throughout
- Type hints required for all public APIs
- **Avoid imports within methods** — place all imports at the top of the file (module-level). Inline imports inside functions/methods make dependencies harder to trace and hurt readability. The only exception is avoiding circular imports where absolutely necessary.
- **Use dict spread for immutable copies** — prefer `{**original, "key": new_value}` over `dict(obj)` + mutation. The spread produces the final dict in one step and makes intent clear.
- **Guard at resolution time** — when resolving an optional value through a fallback chain (`a or b or ""`), raise immediately if the resolved result being empty is an error. Don't pass empty strings or sentinel values downstream for the callee to deal with.
- **Extract complex comprehensions to named helpers** — a set/dict comprehension that calls into the DB or manager (e.g. "which of these server IDs are OAuth2?") belongs in a named helper function, not inline in the caller.
- **FastAPI parameter declarations** — mark required query/form params with `= Query(...)` / `= Form(...)` explicitly when other params in the same handler are optional. Mixing `str` (required) with `Optional[str] = None` in the same signature causes silent 422s when the required param is missing.
### Testing Strategy
- Unit tests in `tests/test_litellm/`
- Integration tests for each provider in `tests/llm_translation/`
- Proxy tests in `tests/proxy_unit_tests/`
- Load tests in `tests/load_tests/`
- **Always add tests when adding new entity types or features** — if the existing test file covers other entity types, add corresponding tests for the new one
- **Keep monkeypatch stubs in sync with real signatures** — when a function gains a new optional parameter, update every `fake_*` / `stub_*` in tests that patch it to also accept that kwarg (even as `**kwargs`). Stale stubs fail with `unexpected keyword argument` and mask real bugs.
- **Test all branches of name→ID resolution** — when adding server/resource lookup that resolves names to UUIDs, test: (1) name resolves and UUID is allowed, (2) name resolves but UUID is not allowed, (3) name does not resolve at all. The silent-fallback path is where access-control bugs hide.
### UI / Backend Consistency
- When wiring a new UI entity type to an existing backend endpoint, verify the backend API contract (single value vs. array, required vs. optional params) and ensure the UI controls match — e.g., use a single-select dropdown when the backend accepts a single value, not a multi-select
### UI Component Library
- **Always use `antd` for new UI components** — we are migrating off of `@tremor/react`. Do not introduce new `Badge`, `Text`, `Card`, `Grid`, `Title`, or other imports from `@tremor/react` in any new or modified file. Use `antd` equivalents: `Tag` for labels, `Typography.Text` / `Typography.Title` / `Typography.Paragraph` for textual content (avoid plain text-only `<span>`, `<p>`, `<h*>` when Typography fits), and `Card` from `antd`. Note that `antd` has no `"yellow"` Tag color — use `"gold"` for amber/yellow.
### MCP OAuth / OpenAPI Transport Mapping
- `TRANSPORT.OPENAPI` is a UI-only concept. The backend only accepts `"http"`, `"sse"`, or `"stdio"`. Always map it to `"http"` before any API call (including pre-OAuth temp-session calls).
- FastAPI validation errors return `detail` as an array of `{loc, msg, type}` objects. Error extractors must handle: array (map `.msg`), string, nested `{error: string}`, and fallback.
- When an MCP server already has `authorization_url` stored, skip OAuth discovery (`_discovery_metadata`) — the server URL for OpenAPI MCPs is the spec file, not the API base, and fetching it causes timeouts.
- `client_id` should be optional in the `/authorize` endpoint — if the server has a stored `client_id` in credentials, use that. Never require callers to re-supply it.
### MCP Credential Storage
- OAuth credentials and BYOK credentials share the `litellm_mcpusercredentials` table, distinguished by a `"type"` field in the JSON payload (`"oauth2"` vs plain string).
- When deleting OAuth credentials, check type before deleting to avoid accidentally deleting a BYOK credential for the same `(user_id, server_id)` pair.
- Always pass the raw `expires_at` timestamp to the client — never set it to `None` for expired credentials. Let the frontend compute the "Expired" display state from the timestamp.
- Use `RecordNotFoundError` (not bare `except Exception`) when catching "already deleted" in credential delete endpoints.
### Browser Storage Safety (UI)
- Never write LiteLLM access tokens or API keys to `localStorage` — use `sessionStorage` only. `localStorage` survives browser close and is readable by any injected script (XSS).
- Shared utility functions (e.g. `extractErrorMessage`) belong in `src/utils/` — never define them inline in hooks or duplicate them across files.
### Database Migrations
- Prisma handles schema migrations
- Migration files auto-generated with `prisma migrate dev`
- Always test migrations against both PostgreSQL and SQLite
### Proxy database access
- **Do not write raw SQL** for proxy DB operations. Use Prisma model methods instead of `execute_raw` / `query_raw`.
- Use the generated client: `prisma_client.db.<model>` (e.g. `litellm_tooltable`, `litellm_usertable`) with `.upsert()`, `.find_many()`, `.find_unique()`, `.update()`, `.update_many()` as appropriate. This avoids schema/client drift, keeps code testable with simple mocks, and matches patterns used in spend logs and other proxy code.
- **No N+1 queries.** Never query the DB inside a loop. Batch-fetch with `{"in": ids}` and distribute in-memory.
- **Batch writes.** Use `create_many`/`update_many`/`delete_many` instead of individual calls (these return counts only; `update_many`/`delete_many` no-op silently on missing rows). When multiple separate writes target the same table (e.g. in `batch_()`), order by primary key to avoid deadlocks.
- **Push work to the DB.** Filter, sort, group, and aggregate in SQL, not Python. Verify Prisma generates the expected SQL — e.g. prefer `group_by` over `find_many(distinct=...)` which does client-side processing.
- **Bound large result sets.** Prisma materializes full results in memory. For results over ~10 MB, paginate with `take`/`skip` or `cursor`/`take`, always with an explicit `order`. Prefer cursor-based pagination (`skip` is O(n)). Don't paginate naturally small result sets.
- **Limit fetched columns on wide tables.** Use `select` to fetch only needed fields — returns a partial object, so downstream code must not access unselected fields.
- **Check index coverage.** For new or modified queries, check `schema.prisma` for a supporting index. Prefer extending an existing index (e.g. `@@index([a])` → `@@index([a, b])`) over adding a new one, unless it's a `@@unique`. Only add indexes for large/frequent queries.
- **Keep schema files in sync.** Apply schema changes to all `schema.prisma` copies (`schema.prisma`, `litellm/proxy/`, `litellm-proxy-extras/`) with a migration under `litellm-proxy-extras/litellm_proxy_extras/migrations/`.
### Setup Wizard (`litellm/setup_wizard.py`)
- The wizard is implemented as a single `SetupWizard` class with `@staticmethod` methods — keep it that way. No module-level functions except `run_setup_wizard()` (the public entrypoint) and pure helpers (color, ANSI).
- Use `litellm.utils.check_valid_key(model, api_key)` for credential validation — never roll a custom completion call.
- Do not hardcode provider env-key names or model lists that already exist in the codebase. Add a `test_model` field to each provider entry to drive `check_valid_key`; set it to `None` for providers that can't be validated with a single API key (Azure, Bedrock, Ollama).
### Enterprise Features
- Enterprise-specific code in `enterprise/` directory
- Optional features enabled via environment variables
- Separate licensing and authentication for enterprise features
### CI Supply-Chain Safety
- **Never pipe a remote script into a shell** (`curl ... | bash`, `wget ... | sh`). Download the artifact to a file, verify its SHA-256 checksum, then install.
- **Pin every external tool to a specific version** with a full URL (not `latest` or `stable`). Unversioned downloads silently change under you.
- **Verify checksums for all downloaded binaries.** Use the provider's official `.sha256` / `.sha256sum` sidecar file when available; otherwise compute and hardcode the digest.
- **Prefer reusable CircleCI commands** (`commands:` section) so a tool is installed and verified in exactly one place, then referenced everywhere with `- install_<tool>` or `- wait_for_service`.
- **Don't add tools just because they were there before.** Audit whether an external dependency is still needed. If it can be replaced with a shell one-liner or a tool already in the image, remove it.
- These rules apply to every download in CI: binaries, install scripts, language version managers, package repos. No exceptions.
### HTTP Client Cache Safety
- **Never close HTTP/SDK clients on cache eviction.** `LLMClientCache._remove_key()` must not call `close()`/`aclose()` on evicted clients — they may still be used by in-flight requests. Doing so causes `RuntimeError: Cannot send a request, as the client has been closed.` after the 1-hour TTL expires. Cleanup happens at shutdown via `close_litellm_async_clients()`.
### Troubleshooting: DB schema out of sync after proxy restart
`litellm-proxy-extras` runs `prisma migrate deploy` on startup using **its own** bundled migration files, which may lag behind schema changes in the current worktree. Symptoms: `Unknown column`, `Invalid prisma invocation`, or missing data on new fields.
**Diagnose:** Run `\d "TableName"` in psql and compare against `schema.prisma` — missing columns confirm the issue.
**Fix options:**
1. **Create a Prisma migration** (permanent) — run `prisma migrate dev --name <description>` in the worktree. The generated file will be picked up by `prisma migrate deploy` on next startup.
2. **Apply manually for local dev** — `psql -d litellm -c "ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS ..."` after each proxy start. Fine for dev, not for production.
3. **Update litellm-proxy-extras** — if the package is installed from PyPI, its migration directory must include the new file. Either update the package or run the migration manually until the next release ships it.