# What does this PR do?
Today, external providers are installed via the `external_providers_dir`
in the config. This necessitates users to understand the `ProviderSpec`
and set up their directories accordingly. This process splits up the
config for the stack across multiple files, directories, and formats.
Most (if not all) external providers today have a
[get_provider_spec](559cb18fbb/src/ramalama_stack/provider.py (L9))
method that sits unused. Utilizing this method rather than the
providers.d route allows for a much easier installation process for
external providers and limits the amount of extra configuration a
regular user has to do to get their stack off the ground.
To accomplish this and wire it throughout the build process, Introduce
the concept of a `module` for users to specify for an external provider
upon build time. In order to facilitate this, align the build and run
spec to use `Provider` class rather than the stringified provider_type
that build currently uses.
For example, say this is in your build config:
```
- provider_id: ramalama
provider_type: remote::ramalama
module: ramalama_stack
```
during build (in the various `build_...` scripts), additionally to
installing any pip dependencies we will also install this module and use
the `get_provider_spec` method to retrieve the ProviderSpec that is
currently specified using `providers.d`.
In production so far, providing instructions for installing external
providers for users has been difficult: they need to install the module
as a pre-req, create the providers.d directory, copy in the provider
spec, and also copy in the necessary build/run yaml files. Accessing an
external provider should be as easy as possible, and pointing to its
installable module aligns more with the rest of our build and dependency
management process.
For now, `external_providers_dir` still exists as an alternate more
declarative method of using external providers.
## Test Plan
added an integration test installing an external provider from module
and more unit test coverage for `get_provider_registry`
( the warning in yellow is expected, the module is installed inside of
the build env, not where we are running the command)
<img width="1119" height="400" alt="Screenshot 2025-07-24 at 11 30
48 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1efbaf45-b9e8-451a-bd63-264ed664706d"
/>
<img width="1154" height="618" alt="Screenshot 2025-07-24 at 11 31
14 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/feb2b3ea-c5dd-418e-9662-9a3bd5dd6bdc"
/>
---------
Signed-off-by: Charlie Doern <cdoern@redhat.com>
# What does this PR do?
The external providers guide can now be accessed directly from the
sidebar
## Test Plan
Build locally to test the changes
Signed-off-by: Nathan Weinberg <nweinber@redhat.com>
# What does this PR do?
currently the "default" dir for external providers is
`/etc/llama-stack/providers.d`
This dir is not used anywhere nor created.
Switch to a more friendly `~/.llama/providers.d/`
This allows external providers to actually create this dir and/or
populate it upon installation, `pip` cannot create directories in `etc`.
If a user does not specify a dir, default to this one
see https://github.com/containers/ramalama-stack/issues/36
Signed-off-by: Charlie Doern <cdoern@redhat.com>
The provider selling point *is* using the same provider for both.
Signed-off-by: Ihar Hrachyshka <ihar.hrachyshka@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Ihar Hrachyshka <ihar.hrachyshka@gmail.com>
# What does this PR do?
the ramalama team has decided to rename their external provider
`ramalama-stack` (more catchy!). Update docs accordingly
Signed-off-by: Charlie Doern <cdoern@redhat.com>
# What does this PR do?
Providers that live outside of the llama-stack codebase are now
supported.
A new property `external_providers_dir` has been added to the main
config and can be configured as follow:
```
external_providers_dir: /etc/llama-stack/providers.d/
```
Where the expected structure is:
```
providers.d/
inference/
custom_ollama.yaml
vllm.yaml
vector_io/
qdrant.yaml
```
Where `custom_ollama.yaml` is:
```
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: []
```
Obviously the package must be installed on the system, here is the
`llama_stack_ollama_provider` example:
```
$ uv pip show llama-stack-ollama-provider
Using Python 3.10.16 environment at: /Users/leseb/Documents/AI/llama-stack/.venv
Name: llama-stack-ollama-provider
Version: 0.1.0
Location: /Users/leseb/Documents/AI/llama-stack/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages
Editable project location: /private/var/folders/mq/rnm5w_7s2d3fxmtkx02knvhm0000gn/T/tmp.ZBHU5Ezxg4/ollama/llama-stack-ollama-provider
Requires:
Required-by:
```
Closes: https://github.com/meta-llama/llama-stack/issues/658
Signed-off-by: Sébastien Han <seb@redhat.com>
