# Creating External Providers

## Configuration

To enable external providers, you need to add `module` into your build yaml, allowing Llama Stack to install the required package corresponding to the external provider.

an example entry in your build.yaml should look like:

```
- provider_type: remote::ramalama
  module: ramalama_stack
```

Additionally you can configure the `external_providers_dir` in your Llama Stack configuration. This method is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the `module` method. If using this method, the external provider directory should contain your external provider specifications:

```yaml
external_providers_dir: ~/.llama/providers.d/
```

## Directory Structure

The external providers directory should follow this structure:

```
providers.d/
  remote/
    inference/
      custom_ollama.yaml
      vllm.yaml
    vector_io/
      qdrant.yaml
    safety/
      llama-guard.yaml
  inline/
    inference/
      custom_ollama.yaml
      vllm.yaml
    vector_io/
      qdrant.yaml
    safety/
      llama-guard.yaml
```

Each YAML file in these directories defines a provider specification for that particular API.

## Provider Types

Llama Stack supports two types of external providers:

1. **Remote Providers**: Providers that communicate with external services (e.g., cloud APIs)
2. **Inline Providers**: Providers that run locally within the Llama Stack process

### Remote Provider Specification

Remote providers are used when you need to communicate with external services. Here's an example for a custom Ollama provider:

```yaml
adapter:
  adapter_type: custom_ollama
  pip_packages:
  - ollama
  - aiohttp
  config_class: llama_stack_ollama_provider.config.OllamaImplConfig
  module: llama_stack_ollama_provider
api_dependencies: []
optional_api_dependencies: []
```

#### Adapter Configuration

The `adapter` section defines how to load and configure the provider:

- `adapter_type`: A unique identifier for this adapter
- `pip_packages`: List of Python packages required by the provider
- `config_class`: The full path to the configuration class
- `module`: The Python module containing the provider implementation

### Inline Provider Specification

Inline providers run locally within the Llama Stack process. Here's an example for a custom vector store provider:

```yaml
module: llama_stack_vector_provider
config_class: llama_stack_vector_provider.config.VectorStoreConfig
pip_packages:
  - faiss-cpu
  - numpy
api_dependencies:
  - inference
optional_api_dependencies:
  - vector_io
provider_data_validator: llama_stack_vector_provider.validator.VectorStoreValidator
container_image: custom-vector-store:latest  # optional
```

#### Inline Provider Fields

- `module`: The Python module containing the provider implementation
- `config_class`: The full path to the configuration class
- `pip_packages`: List of Python packages required by the provider
- `api_dependencies`: List of Llama Stack APIs that this provider depends on
- `optional_api_dependencies`: List of optional Llama Stack APIs that this provider can use
- `provider_data_validator`: Optional validator for provider data
- `container_image`: Optional container image to use instead of pip packages

## Required Fields

### All Providers

All providers must contain a `get_provider_spec` function in their `provider` module. This is a standardized structure that Llama Stack expects and is necessary for getting things such as the config class. The `get_provider_spec` method returns a structure identical to the `adapter`. An example function may look like:

```python
from llama_stack.providers.datatypes import (
    ProviderSpec,
    Api,
    AdapterSpec,
    remote_provider_spec,
)


def get_provider_spec() -> ProviderSpec:
    return remote_provider_spec(
        api=Api.inference,
        adapter=AdapterSpec(
            adapter_type="ramalama",
            pip_packages=["ramalama>=0.8.5", "pymilvus"],
            config_class="ramalama_stack.config.RamalamaImplConfig",
            module="ramalama_stack",
        ),
    )
```

#### Remote Providers

Remote providers must expose a `get_adapter_impl()` function in their module that takes two arguments:
1. `config`: An instance of the provider's config class
2. `deps`: A dictionary of API dependencies

This function must return an instance of the provider's adapter class that implements the required protocol for the API.

Example:
```python
async def get_adapter_impl(
    config: OllamaImplConfig, deps: Dict[Api, Any]
) -> OllamaInferenceAdapter:
    return OllamaInferenceAdapter(config)
```

#### Inline Providers

Inline providers must expose a `get_provider_impl()` function in their module that takes two arguments:
1. `config`: An instance of the provider's config class
2. `deps`: A dictionary of API dependencies

Example:
```python
async def get_provider_impl(
    config: VectorStoreConfig, deps: Dict[Api, Any]
) -> VectorStoreImpl:
    impl = VectorStoreImpl(config, deps[Api.inference])
    await impl.initialize()
    return impl
```

## Dependencies

The provider package must be installed on the system. For example:

```bash
$ uv pip show llama-stack-ollama-provider
Name: llama-stack-ollama-provider
Version: 0.1.0
Location: /path/to/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages
```

## Best Practices

1. **Package Naming**: Use the prefix `llama-stack-provider-` for your provider packages to make them easily identifiable.

2. **Version Management**: Keep your provider package versioned and compatible with the Llama Stack version you're using.

3. **Dependencies**: Only include the minimum required dependencies in your provider package.

4. **Documentation**: Include clear documentation in your provider package about:
   - Installation requirements
   - Configuration options
   - Usage examples
   - Any limitations or known issues

5. **Testing**: Include tests in your provider package to ensure it works correctly with Llama Stack.
You can refer to the [integration tests
guide](https://github.com/meta-llama/llama-stack/blob/main/tests/integration/README.md) for more
information. Execute the test for the Provider type you are developing.

## Troubleshooting

If your external provider isn't being loaded:

1. Check that `module` points to a published pip package with a top level `provider` module including `get_provider_spec`.
1. Check that the `external_providers_dir` path is correct and accessible.
2. Verify that the YAML files are properly formatted.
3. Ensure all required Python packages are installed.
4. Check the Llama Stack server logs for any error messages - turn on debug logging to get more
   information using `LLAMA_STACK_LOGGING=all=debug`.
5. Verify that the provider package is installed in your Python environment if using `external_providers_dir`.

## Examples

### Example using `external_providers_dir`: Custom Ollama Provider

Here's a complete example of creating and using a custom Ollama provider:

1. First, create the provider package:

```bash
mkdir -p llama-stack-provider-ollama
cd llama-stack-provider-ollama
git init
uv init
```

2. Edit `pyproject.toml`:

```toml
[project]
name = "llama-stack-provider-ollama"
version = "0.1.0"
description = "Ollama provider for Llama Stack"
requires-python = ">=3.12"
dependencies = ["llama-stack", "pydantic", "ollama", "aiohttp"]
```

3. Create the provider specification:

```yaml
# ~/.llama/providers.d/remote/inference/custom_ollama.yaml
adapter:
  adapter_type: custom_ollama
  pip_packages: ["ollama", "aiohttp"]
  config_class: llama_stack_provider_ollama.config.OllamaImplConfig
  module: llama_stack_provider_ollama
api_dependencies: []
optional_api_dependencies: []
```

4. Install the provider:

```bash
uv pip install -e .
```

5. Configure Llama Stack to use external providers:

```yaml
external_providers_dir: ~/.llama/providers.d/
```

The provider will now be available in Llama Stack with the type `remote::custom_ollama`.


### Example using `module`: ramalama-stack

[ramalama-stack](https://github.com/containers/ramalama-stack) is a recognized external provider that supports installation via module.

To install Llama Stack with this external provider a user can provider the following build.yaml:

```yaml
version: 2
distribution_spec:
  description: Use (an external) Ramalama server for running LLM inference
  container_image: null
  providers:
    inference:
    - provider_type: remote::ramalama
      module: ramalama_stack==0.3.0a0
image_type: venv
image_name: null
external_providers_dir: null
additional_pip_packages:
- aiosqlite
- sqlalchemy[asyncio]
```

No other steps are required other than `llama stack build` and `llama stack run`. The build process will use `module` to install all of the provider dependencies, retrieve the spec, etc.

The provider will now be available in Llama Stack with the type `remote::ramalama`.