There are two ways to control the AI model of your agents running on xpander. Centrally Managed - xpander-provided API keys to the Model provider and model ID you select in the Agent Workbench (recommended). Bring Your Own Model - Use your own API keys with any LLM provider client directly in the code.
When you configure the model provider and model name in the Agent Workbench UI, xpander automatically provides the appropriate native client class to your agent at runtime, handling all the provider-specific setup and configuration for you.
from xpander_sdk import Backend
from agno.agent import Agent, OpenAIChat

backend = Backend()
agno_agent = Agent(**backend.get_args(override={'model': OpenAIChat(api_key='your-openai-key')}))
agno_agent.print_response(message="What's your role?")

​
Key Differences

Centrally Managed (Recommended):
  • No API key management in your code
  • Model configuration handled automatically by xpander
  • Simpler setup with just backend.get_args()
  • Secure - API keys managed centrally
Bring Your Own Model:
  • You provide your own API key directly in the code
  • Manual model configuration with override parameter
  • More control but requires API key management
  • Useful when you need to use your own API keys or custom model configurations