AI Providers

Magic Shell supports two AI providers, each with their own strengths.

OpenCode Zen (Recommended)

OpenCode Zen provides curated models optimized for coding tasks. It’s the default provider and offers several free models.

Free Models

Model	Description
grok-code	xAI’s Grok Code Fast 1 - fast and capable
glm-4.7	GLM 4.7 - good general purpose
minimax-m2.1-free	MiniMax M2.1 - efficient
big-pickle	Stealth model - experimental

Premium Models

Model	Description
claude-sonnet-4-5	Anthropic’s hybrid reasoning model
claude-opus-4-5	Anthropic’s most capable model
kimi-k2	Moonshot’s Kimi K2
kimi-k2-thinking	Kimi K2 with extended reasoning
qwen3-coder	Alibaba’s massive coding model
glm-4.6	Zhipu AI’s capable model

Tip

For most shell commands, glm-4.7 works excellently. The default is big-pickle for quick experiments.

Get an API Key

1. Visit opencode.ai/auth
2. Sign up or log in
3. Copy your API key
4. Run msh --setup and paste it

OpenRouter

OpenRouter provides access to models from many providers through a single API.

Free Models

Model	Description
mimo-v2-flash	MiMo V2 Flash
deepseek-v3	DeepSeek V3

Premium Models

Model	Description
claude-sonnet-4.5	Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5
claude-opus-4.5	Anthropic Claude Opus 4.5
deepseek-r1	DeepSeek R1 reasoning model
glm-4.7	Zhipu AI’s capable model

Get an API Key

1. Visit openrouter.ai/keys
2. Create an account
3. Generate a new API key
4. Run msh --setup and select OpenRouter

Switching Providers

Via CLI

# Switch to OpenRouter
msh --provider openrouter

# Switch back to OpenCode Zen
msh --provider opencode-zen

Via TUI

Press Ctrl+X S to open the provider switcher.

Switching Models

Via CLI

# List available models
msh --models

# Set default model
msh --model big-pickle

Via TUI

Press Ctrl+X M to open the model picker.

Model Recommendations

Use Case	Recommended Model
Quick commands	big-pickle (free)
Complex git operations	claude-sonnet-4.5
System administration	grok-code or glm-4.7
Multi-step tasks	claude-opus-4.5 or kimi-k2-thinking
Learning/experimenting	Any free model

Environment Variables

Set your API keys via environment variables:

# OpenCode Zen
export OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY="your-key"

# OpenRouter
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="your-key"

Keys stored in the system keychain (via msh --setup) take precedence over environment variables.