Providers | NVIDIA OpenShell

AI agents typically need credentials to access external services: an API key for the AI model provider, a token for GitHub or GitLab, and so on. OpenShell manages these credentials as first-class entities called providers.

Create and manage providers that supply credentials to sandboxes.

Provider profiles define provider credentials, policy, and refresh behavior. See Profiles for the profile format and custom profile workflow.

Provider profiles include metadata for known endpoints and binaries. View the available profiles before creating a provider:

openshell profile list
openshell profile describe github

Create a Provider

Providers can be created from local environment variables or with explicit credential values.

For refresh-backed providers such as google-vertex-ai --from-gcloud-adc, openshell provider create now waits for the gateway to configure refresh metadata and mint the initial access token before it reports success.

From Local Credentials

The fastest way to create a provider is to let the CLI discover credentials from your shell environment:

openshell provider create --name my-claude --type claude-code --from-existing

This reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or CLAUDE_API_KEY from your current environment and stores them in the provider.

With Explicit Credentials

Supply a credential value directly:

openshell provider create --name my-nvidia --type nvidia --credential NVIDIA_API_KEY=nvapi-example

Bare Key Form

Pass a key name without a value to read the value from the environment variable of that name:

openshell provider create --name my-nvidia --type nvidia --credential NVIDIA_API_KEY

This looks up the current value of $NVIDIA_API_KEY in your shell and stores it.

Profile-backed token-exchange providers can store the current gateway OIDC access token as their subject credential. The subject credential stays gateway-only and is not emitted into sandbox environment material or static credential bindings:

openshell provider create \
  --name custom-api \
  --type custom-api \
  --from-oidc-token

OpenShell infers the destination credential from the provider profile when the profile has exactly one token_grant.subject_token.credential. If the profile has more than one, pass --credential <key>. Refresh the stored subject token later with:

openshell provider update custom-api --from-oidc-token

This copies the current OIDC access token and expiry from the active gateway login. This requires an active named gateway that was registered for OIDC. If the stored gateway access token is expired and a refresh token is available, the CLI refreshes it before storing the provider credential. It does not store the OIDC refresh token in the provider.

--from-existing uses profile-backed discovery. The requested --type must name an imported provider profile with a discovery section. If no matching profile exists, the CLI returns an error instead of falling back to legacy discovery.

Create a provider whose profile requires no static credentials without a credential source:

openshell provider create --name public-pypi --type pypi

Provider creation rejects profileless types. For a custom GitLab deployment, import a profile with the deployment’s endpoints and then create an instance using that profile ID. Existing profileless provider records remain usable, but OpenShell does not create new ones.

Update a custom provider profile after exporting it, editing its endpoints, binaries, or credential metadata, and preserving the exported resource_version:

openshell profile export my-api -o yaml > my-api-profile.yaml
openshell profile update my-api -f my-api-profile.yaml

Import remains create-only and fails if the profile ID already exists. Use profile update <id> for existing profiles. Interceptor-managed profiles are read-only. The target ID must match the profile ID in the file. Update accepts one file at a time and rejects stale resource versions. Updated profile policy applies to all provider instances of that type on the next sandbox config sync.

Delete one or more custom provider profiles by ID:

openshell profile delete custom-api custom-alt

When a multi-profile delete fails for one entry, the CLI reports that profile’s failure and continues with the remaining IDs. The command exits with an error after it attempts every requested deletion if any entry failed.

Static credentials require an imported provider profile. Profiles normally define at least one endpoint. An endpointless profile requires an explicit credential_binding.provider on a sandbox policy endpoint. OpenShell does not activate static credentials from a profileless provider because it cannot determine which credential definition applies.

Manage Providers

List, inspect, update, and delete providers from the active gateway.

List all providers:

openshell provider list

Use -o json or -o yaml for machine-readable output:

openshell provider list -o json
openshell provider list -o yaml

Structured list output is an envelope with providers and next_page_token fields. Each provider includes metadata (id, name, type), credential key names, config key names, labels, creation timestamp, resource version, and credential expiration times. Only credential and config keys are exposed, never values, preventing accidental credential leakage in logs or output. Pass the returned token to --page-token to continue. For details on how credentials are injected into sandboxes, refer to Credential Injection.

Inspect a provider:

openshell provider get my-claude

Update a provider’s credentials:

openshell provider update my-claude --from-existing

To wait until attached sandboxes apply the updated credentials, add --wait:

openshell provider update my-claude --from-existing --wait --timeout 30 --output json

The update records which sandboxes are attached before saving the new credentials. Its result includes a change ID and outcome for each of those sandboxes. Sandboxes attached later are outside this wait. The timeout applies to the whole group; if any selected sandbox fails or times out, the command exits with an error and still reports each sandbox’s outcome. When no sandboxes are attached, it reports the saved change and an empty target list.

Credential refresh status tells you whether OpenShell obtained credentials. Provider readiness tells you whether the sandbox applied the credentials, policy, and environment for new processes. It does not test access to a backend model or cancel requests already sent upstream.

After a static credential update completes, launch a new client process to use the updated reference. An existing process keeps its revision-scoped reference; readiness does not make that old reference resolve the new value. Acknowledged detach revokes retained references and removes them from environments for future launches.

Set or clear a credential expiry timestamp:

openshell provider update my-graph \
  --credential MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN="$MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  --credential-expires-at MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN=1767225600000

Use 0 as the timestamp to clear expiry for a credential key.

Credential Refresh

Provider refresh stores non-injectable refresh material separately from the provider’s current credential values. The gateway can mint OAuth2 refresh-token tokens, OAuth2 client credentials tokens, Google service account JWT tokens, and AWS STS temporary credentials, then write the current access token back to the provider record for sandbox injection.

Configure refresh metadata for one injectable credential key:

openshell provider refresh configure my-graph \
  --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN \
  --strategy oauth2-client-credentials \
  --material tenant_id="$TENANT_ID" \
  --material client_id="$CLIENT_ID" \
  --secret-material-env client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET \
  --credential-expires-at 1767225600000

Pass secret material with --secret-material-env KEY[=ENVVAR] (ENVVAR defaults to KEY): the CLI reads the value from its own environment, so the secret never appears in the host process table the way an expanded --material KEY="$VALUE" argument would, and KEY is automatically marked secret. Keep non-secret material on --material; --secret-material-key KEY still marks a key supplied through --material as secret.

Check refresh status:

openshell provider refresh status my-graph

Delete refresh metadata for a credential:

openshell provider refresh delete my-graph \
  --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN

Force a gateway-managed refresh for one credential:

openshell provider refresh rotate my-graph --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN

AWS STS

The gateway calls sts:AssumeRole and writes three short-lived credentials (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SESSION_TOKEN) to the provider record atomically. The aws and aws-s3 profiles declare AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY and AWS_SESSION_TOKEN as additional_outputs of the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID refresh, so all three credentials are gateway-minted. Create the provider with --runtime-credentials — no placeholder credential is needed.

openshell provider create --name my-aws --type aws-s3 --runtime-credentials
openshell provider refresh configure my-aws \
  --credential-key AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
  --strategy aws-sts-assume-role \
  --material role_arn="arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/SandboxS3Writer" \
  --material session_name="openshell-sandbox"
openshell provider refresh rotate my-aws --credential-key AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

The gateway resolves its own AWS credentials using the default credential chain (instance role, IRSA, ECS task role, environment variables). For gateways not running on AWS, provide explicit IAM keys via refresh material:

openshell provider refresh configure my-aws \
  --credential-key AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
  --strategy aws-sts-assume-role \
  --material role_arn="arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/SandboxS3Writer" \
  --material aws_access_key_id="$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID" \
  --secret-material-env aws_secret_access_key=AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

Pass the long-lived secret with --secret-material-env so the CLI reads it from its own environment instead of expanding it into a process argument, where it would be visible in the host process table.

For temporary source credentials (AWS SSO or a prior AssumeRole), also pass a session token with --secret-material-env aws_session_token=AWS_SESSION_TOKEN. It requires the aws_access_key_id and aws_secret_access_key pair.

Use the generic aws profile type for multi-service access and scope endpoints via sandbox network policy. Use aws-s3 for S3-specific endpoint rules.

The proxy re-signs requests using SigV4 before forwarding to AWS. Both curl and Python boto3 are supported.

External refresh systems should continue to push new current credentials through openshell provider update. The --credential-expires-at option works for static credentials, externally refreshed credentials, and gateway-managed refresh strategies.

Delete a provider:

openshell provider delete my-claude

Delete multiple providers by listing their names in one command:

openshell provider delete my-claude my-github

When a multi-provider delete fails for one entry, the CLI reports that provider’s failure and continues with the remaining names. The command exits with an error after it attempts every requested deletion if any entry failed.

Attach Providers to Sandboxes

Pass one or more --provider flags when creating a sandbox:

openshell sandbox create --from registry.example.com/your-org/claude-agent:latest --provider my-claude --provider my-github -- claude

Each --provider flag attaches one provider. The sandbox receives eligible credentials from every attached provider as placeholders at runtime. Each static credential resolves only for endpoints in that provider’s profile, or for explicitly bound sandbox policy endpoints when the profile is endpointless. Profile-managed providers also contribute provider-generated network policy entries. Endpoint binding independently limits where each static credential can be resolved.

Use --provider to attach providers when creating a sandbox. To change the providers attached to a running sandbox, use openshell sandbox provider attach and openshell sandbox provider detach. See Profiles for details.

Auto-Discovery Shortcut

Name a provider with --provider. If no provider by that name exists and the name matches an imported profile ID, the CLI creates one from local profile discovery, so you do not need to create it separately:

openshell sandbox create --from registry.example.com/your-org/claude-agent:latest --provider claude-code -- claude

This finds your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, creates a claude-code provider, attaches it to the sandbox, and launches Claude Code. Add --auto-providers to skip the confirmation prompt, or --no-auto-providers to skip creation entirely.

A provider is attached only when you name it. OpenShell does not derive one from the trailing command: a profile’s binaries list authorizes a binary to reach that profile’s endpoints, which is not a statement that running the binary asks for the provider. A sandbox with no providers is a normal, fully supported state.

How Credential Injection Works

The agent process inside the sandbox never sees real credential values. At startup, OpenShell replaces each credential with an opaque placeholder token in the agent’s environment. When the agent sends an HTTP request containing a placeholder, the proxy resolves it immediately before forwarding the request.

Static credential resolution has two independent authorization boundaries:

Network policy must allow the calling binary and request destination.
The credential binding must include the request host, port, and path. Profile endpoints provide the binding by default. An endpointless profile can use a sandbox policy endpoint that names the attached provider instance through credential_binding.provider.

Both checks must pass. A provider profile endpoint does not grant network access unless provider policy composition or the sandbox’s own policy allows the request. A plain sandbox policy endpoint does not grant credential use unless the profile already covers it or the endpoint explicitly binds an endpointless provider.

Every static credential declared by a provider receives the complete endpoint set from that provider’s profile, or the explicitly bound sandbox policy endpoints for an endpointless profile.

Credential resolution requires the proxy to handle the request as HTTP. Raw tls: skip and non-HTTP tunnels remain opaque and do not support credential rewrite. Refer to Profiles for endpoint matching and migration guidance.

Supported injection locations

The proxy resolves credential placeholders in the following parts of an HTTP request:

Location	How the agent uses it	Example
Header value	Agent reads `$API_KEY` from env and places it in a header.	`Authorization: Bearer <placeholder>`
Header value (Basic auth)	Agent base64-encodes `user:<placeholder>` in an `Authorization: Basic` header. The proxy decodes, resolves, and re-encodes.	`Authorization: Basic <base64>`
Query parameter value	Agent places the placeholder in a URL query parameter.	`GET /api?key=<placeholder>`
URL path segment	Agent builds a URL with the placeholder in the path. Supports concatenated patterns.	`POST /bot<placeholder>/sendMessage`
Supported request body	An inspected REST endpoint opts in with `request_body_credential_rewrite: true`.	`{"api_key":"<placeholder>"}`
WebSocket text message	A REST or WebSocket endpoint opts in with `websocket_credential_rewrite: true`.	`{"token":"<placeholder>"}`
AWS SigV4 signing	An endpoint configures `credential_signing`, and the proxy signs with the endpoint-bound AWS credentials.	`credential_signing: sigv4`

The proxy does not rewrite cookies, response content, unsupported request bodies, or WebSocket binary frames.

Fail-closed behavior

If policy allows a request but the credential binding does not include the request endpoint, the proxy rejects the request with HTTP 403 and the credential_endpoint_mismatch reason. It emits a denied activity event and a security finding without recording the secret, placeholder, environment key, or query string.

Unknown, malformed, expired, or otherwise unresolved placeholders also fail closed instead of being forwarded to the upstream service.

Inspect an Endpoint Binding

Export the profile used by a provider to inspect its credential boundary:

openshell profile export github -o yaml

For the GitHub example profile, GITHUB_TOKEN and GH_TOKEN can resolve for the profile’s api.github.com:443 and github.com:443 endpoints. Even if a sandbox policy allows uploads.example.com:443, sending either placeholder there returns credential_endpoint_mismatch.

For another service, define the credential in its own provider profile. Put stable endpoints in the profile, or leave the profile endpointless and bind each concrete provider instance from sandbox policy. Refer to Profiles for the profile workflow and schema.

Available Provider Types

The provider types available to --type are the IDs of the profiles you imported. List them:

openshell provider list-profiles

The repository’s providers/ directory ships example profiles for GitHub, PyPI, and the major inference and agent providers. Each file’s header states the credential environment variables it declares, the binaries it authorizes, and the endpoints it grants. Read it, adjust the binary paths for your image, and import your copy.

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is an API key from console.anthropic.com, not a subscription token. Subscription users must generate a separate API key from the Anthropic Console.

Inference Provider Access

Attach an inference provider to each sandbox that needs it and configure the workload to call the provider’s native endpoint. The workload, not OpenShell, selects the model and request timeout.

Provider	Example profile	Native base URL	Credential variable
OpenAI	`openai`	`https://api.openai.com/v1`	`OPENAI_API_KEY`
Anthropic	`anthropic`	`https://api.anthropic.com`	`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`
NVIDIA API Catalog	`nvidia`	`https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1`	`NVIDIA_API_KEY`
DeepInfra	`deepinfra`	`https://api.deepinfra.com/v1/openai`	`DEEPINFRA_API_KEY`
Google Vertex AI	`google-vertex-ai`	Region and model dependent	`GOOGLE_VERTEX_AI_TOKEN` or `GOOGLE_VERTEX_AI_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN`

An OpenAI-compatible protocol does not make the openai profile safe for an arbitrary host. Baseten, Bitdeer, Groq, Ollama, LM Studio, self-hosted NIM, and other alternate endpoints need their own profile declaring the actual host, port, credential, and allowed binaries. See Inference for complete examples and migration guidance.

Next Steps

Explore related topics:

To manage workspace access for providers, refer to Workspaces.
To control what the agent can access, refer to Policies.
To use the default workload image, refer to Sandboxes.
To view the complete field reference for the policy YAML, refer to the Policy Schema Reference.