BYOK and model choice

Bring-your-own-key means the tool is provider-agnostic: you plug in Claude, GPT, Gemini, a local model, or a custom endpoint. The tool never gates which model you use.

• OpenCode and Aider treat BYOK as the default; cost and privacy stay in your hands.
• Local models become first-class, which matters for self-hosting and air-gapped environments.
• The tradeoff is setup overhead: you manage keys, routing, and fallback, which a hosted tool absorbs for you.

BYOK is the axis that prevents lock-in. Teams that want to switch models as the frontier moves standardize on BYOK tools rather than single-vendor ones.

Sources: 0002-aider-docs.md, 0003-opencode-docs.md, 0006-cline-docs.md

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