Models
Which AI model a goal uses, how to change its default, which models its menus offer, and how to add your own provider key.
Every reply in Chat and every session runs on an AI model. Auto Lab provides models to every goal, so a new goal works without any setup. In Brain › Models you choose the model the goal starts with, decide which models its menus offer, and add your own provider keys if you want more.
What the page shows
Brain › Models has its own row of tabs:
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Providers | Paste API keys for model providers |
| Models | Turn models on or off in the goal's menus, and set defaults |
| Custom | Connect a self-hosted or unlisted model service that works like OpenAI's API |
| Gateway | Create a key so a tool outside Auto Lab can call models through this goal |
| Routing | What happens when the default model cannot answer: a fallback model, per-model overrides and advanced settings |
| Costs | Spend, requests, tokens and response times for the goal's model calls, with an optional spending cap |
| Logs | The goal's recent model requests |
The picker at the top right of the page sets the goal's default model. It appears for goal admins.
If the goal's LLM Gateway feature flag is off, the page shows only Providers and Custom, with no default picker.
Change the goal's default model
Open Brain › Models and choose a model in the default picker at the top right of the page.
Chat uses the new default from its next turn, and new sessions start with it. Chat has no model picker of its own, so the goal's default is how you change the model Chat uses.
How the model is chosen
Auto Lab uses the first model in this list that is set and that it can serve.
For Chat:
- The goal's default model.
- The organization's default model.
- Auto Lab's default.
For a session:
- A model picked in that session, or set on the trigger that started it.
- The default model of the agent the session runs, set on the agent's page under Model.
- The goal's default model.
- The organization's default model.
- Auto Lab's default.
A default that stops working, for example because its provider key was removed, is skipped. The conversation carries on with the next model instead of failing. Some task agents, such as Research and Browser, run on a model Auto Lab picks for their job.
To set the organization's default, open the Models tab, open the ⋯ menu on a model's row and choose Make it my default everywhere. It applies to every goal in the organization that has no default of its own.
Choose which models the menus offer
The Models tab lists every model the goal can use, with what it can do (reasoning, tools, images) and how much text it can read at once. Each model has a switch.
- Out of the box, each model family offers only its latest model; older ones start switched off.
- Turn a model on to offer it in the goal's menus, or off to hide it.
- The goal's default model cannot be turned off. Pick a different default first.
The switches decide what the menus offer. They do not stop a model that is already set somewhere, such as on a trigger, from running.
Use your own provider key
Find the provider
Open Brain › Models › Providers and search for the provider, for example Google or OpenRouter.
Paste the key
Paste the API key into the provider's field. It saves when you click away.
Check its models
Open the Models tab. The provider's models are listed there, and the newest ones are on.
A provider key belongs to the goal, not to you. Everyone who works on the goal uses the same key, and there are no personal provider keys. Auto Lab stores the key as one of the goal's secrets and never shows it again. To change it, paste a new key over it. To stop using it, select Remove key.
A key matters for a provider Auto Lab does not already supply. Models that Auto Lab supplies run on its own connection, even if you add a key for the same provider.
Pick a model for one session
In a session, the model picker in the message box switches the model for that session only. Its Manage models button opens the Providers, Models and Custom tabs in a dialog, so you can add a key without leaving the session.
Beside it, the Thinking effort control sets how much the model reasons before it answers. The choices depend on the model, and a model without levels shows no control. Auto lets the model decide. Chat has neither control.