Providers in Scient
A provider supplies the AI models that work inside Scient. For example, you can connect Scient Agent, Codex, Claude, Cursor, Grok, Droid, Antigravity, Pi, or Oh My Pi, then choose an available model for each conversation. Different providers can have different models, tools, account requirements, and usage limits.
Scient connects the provider to your current project and presents its work in one interface. The provider still owns its account, subscription, and models. You can use an existing provider installation or, when available, let Scient install a qualified private copy on the machine where the project runs.
Thread titles and other generated text use Settings > Text generation; source control can choose a separate writer. If Scient Agent, Pi, or Oh My Pi is the automatic fallback provider, Scient uses that instance’s discovered default model, or its first available non-legacy built-in model (a custom model when only custom models remain). An explicit model choice takes priority. If discovery has not supplied a usable model, choose one in Settings or refresh the provider; automatic titles keep their normal fallback. This automatic choice does not guarantee the lowest price.
The fastest setup path
When no provider is ready, choose one from Choose your AI in the composer. Scient shows the next available step without requiring you to leave the conversation:
- Enable makes a disabled provider available;
- Install adds a qualified Scient-managed runtime when no usable provider tool exists;
- Sign in starts the provider’s official account flow; and
- Manage opens the complete runtime and account controls in Settings > Providers.
Scient verifies the provider again after installation or sign-in. It reports Ready only when the runtime, account configuration, and available models are usable together. Pi instead reports Models available after discovery, and Oh My Pi reports Ready once discovery lists models; for both, authentication and quota remain specific to each configured model provider and are verified when used.
In Settings > Providers, a shipped provider opens on Models when that tab is available; use Configuration for paths, environment variables, and advanced instance settings. An authenticated email reported by a provider is shown initially so you can distinguish accounts; select it to hide or show it. Other sensitive configuration values remain redacted by default.
Existing and Scient-managed installations
Scient distinguishes three local runtime sources:
- Custom: an explicit binary path configured for this provider instance.
- System: a healthy provider tool already available on the Scient server.
- Scient-managed: a qualified copy stored privately in Scient’s app data.
A healthy custom or system installation remains first-class. Use Scient-managed is offered beside a healthy system installation and starts from one click. Scient installs its latest qualified release, even when your system version is newer or unknown. You do not need to compare versions or confirm again. The first action is blue in the provider card and runtime controls.
Scient downloads and verifies its private copy before putting it in use. Your system installation and credentials stay untouched. Removing the private copy returns eligible instances to the healthy system runtime. If the catalog changes between preparing and starting the action, Scient refreshes the plan and retries once with the current qualified release. A second change reports an error; it does not keep retrying.
Repair and Update of a private copy that was never selected also start directly when available.
Codex keeps one maintenance rule: while Codex from your PATH stands in for a private copy that
failed its check, Scient does not repair or update that copy with a version older than the PATH
one, and names both versions when it declines. Use Scient-managed remains the explicit way to
choose Scient’s qualified release.
The Scient-managed copy is shared: once it is in use, every instance of that provider in the environment that uses the default runtime switches to it. Give an instance an explicit binary path to keep it on its own installation; custom paths are never switched.
Runtime controls always apply to the machine running the Scient server. A remote browser controls that environment; it does not install or remove provider software on the device displaying the UI.
For system or custom installations, an executable update action is available only when Scient can verify which installer owns that binary. Otherwise the version notice remains informational and you update it with the original installer. Scient rechecks ownership before running an update; it does not guess a package manager from whichever command happens to be on your PATH. This is separate from the verified private-runtime actions below.
What each action changes
| Action | What it does | What it preserves |
|---|---|---|
| Install | Downloads, verifies, tests, and activates a qualified private runtime. | System/custom installations and provider credentials. |
| Update | Safely replaces a Scient-managed runtime with a newer qualified version. | The previous version, any version a running Scient still uses, and provider credentials. Older versions are deleted. |
| Repair | Installs or restores the latest qualified managed release. | The previous working copy until repair succeeds, plus provider credentials. |
| Remove | Deletes only Scient’s private runtime. | System/custom installations and provider credentials. |
| Sign out | Asks the provider to revoke the account session and verifies the result. | Every provider runtime. |
When provider update checks are enabled, Scient checks its qualified stable-release catalog when the app starts, periodically while it remains open, and when you click Install, Update, or Repair. A newly qualified release can appear as Update without restarting Scient. Refresh providers in Settings also checks the catalog immediately without changing its normal automatic schedule. In the desktop app, a Scient-managed runtime update on any connected machine appears in the sidebar’s update circle, whose Update installs it in place and shows its progress, failure, and Retry (Update Scient). The web app shows a notice with Update and Settings instead. Its Update installs in place and reports when the verified version is active or why it failed, with Retry. Settings opens the provider in the correct environment. Clicking Install or Update starts the operation directly, without a second confirmation. In Settings, it runs without opening the management card: Settings and onboarding show Installing, Updating, or Verifying, with a small download percentage when available, beside an icon-only Manage button. Progress remains visible when you close the card. Click either control to reopen details without starting another operation. After a failure, Manage opens the existing error and recovery controls; errors before an operation starts appear as notifications. The local computer independently verifies and tests the release before activation.
For a runtime Scient manages or can install, Settings and the provider setup screens show a status line such as Update 0.241.1 available · checked 5m ago or Up to date · checked 2h ago. It says when Scient last checked its qualified-release catalog. If the latest check failed, the line says so with the reason and the time of the last successful check, and Scient keeps using the catalog it already has. When automatic update checks are off, the line says that instead.
Scient downloads, verifies, and tests a new runtime while you keep working. Switching to it restarts that provider, so while one of its turns or background tasks (subagents, workflows, monitors) is running, the button shows Waiting; your conversations continue on the next message. Cancel a waiting change from its details. While a change waits, that provider’s sign-in actions are unavailable.
Scient never installs a provider update without your action. If the private Codex copy fails its startup check, Scient keeps working with Codex from your PATH and marks the card Using system Codex with the reason. Scient checks the private copy again when you refresh providers and every 10 minutes, and switches back once it passes and no Codex work is running; Repair or Update also restores it. While the PATH copy stands in, Scient offers updates only for the private copy. When the Codex in use is a version this Scient release does not support, the card offers Install of the verified private copy beside it. Repair also uses the latest qualified release and can restore it when you already have that version. Offline, Scient uses the latest qualified release it already knows about; it does not claim to have checked for newer releases.
Remove still asks for confirmation. Removing a runtime does not sign out. Signing out does not uninstall anything. Disabling a provider also preserves both its runtime and its credentials.
Accounts, subscriptions, and codes
Scient starts official provider-owned account flows. It never asks for or receives your provider password, and it does not create a second credential store. A sign-in page may let a new user create an account or purchase access, but those choices, prices, and eligibility rules belong to the provider.
The exact flow varies:
- some providers open a browser and return automatically;
- some show a device code that you copy from Scient to the provider page;
- some occasionally show a returned authorization code that you paste into Scient; and
- some provider tools open the browser themselves without exposing a URL to Scient.
In Settings > Providers and in onboarding, Sign in on a provider’s row starts sign-in directly when the provider has one sign-in method that only needs a browser page Scient opens (Codex’s ChatGPT browser sign-in, Cursor, and Antigravity’s Google account). The row shows Starting and then Signing in; select it for the details. A provider that asks you to choose a method, or shows a code or a pairing, opens its setup card instead, as does a flow that turns out to need something from you. When the provider may run on another computer, which is the case for every environment except the desktop app’s own, the card opens too, so you can paste the sign-in’s return address there.
Scient opens a provider’s sign-in page once, on the device where you started sign-in, even if you close the setup card, reload the window or briefly lose the connection while the provider starts. Other windows and devices show the sign-in in progress and offer to open the page, but never open it themselves. If the browser cannot open, the setup card says so, or a notification offers Open sign-in page when the card is closed. In a browser tab, a sign-in page that opens after a long start is often blocked as a popup; Scient then says so, and Open sign-in page opens it.
Scient shows a code field only when the active provider operation says it can accept one. A submitted code goes to that live process and is not saved as provider state.
Being signed in does not always mean the account has a supported subscription, remaining quota, or a usable model. Scient keeps those states separate and reports the provider’s actual result.
Disabled, remote, and unsupported providers
A disabled provider can be enabled directly from its lifecycle surface when the current client has permission to change settings. Enabling never starts installation or sign-in automatically.
Managed installation is offered only by a writable local desktop host on an approved target. Remote, read-only, manual-only, and unsupported environments show truthful guidance without a broken action. You can still use an installation administered directly on the server when that provider supports it.
Provider guides
Pi uses its own multi-provider model and credential configuration. Scient can manage its runtime on a qualified target, but does not offer a universal Pi account sign-in or sign-out action. Model discovery is not proof that a particular credential or subscription works.
Oh My Pi uses the omp executable you install or, on the desktop app for macOS, Windows and
Linux, a Scient-managed private copy. Scient never runs omp update on your installation; it shows the
command when a newer release is available. Scient does not sign in to Oh My Pi. Full access is the
only runtime mode, and Oh My Pi’s own approval mode is explicit yolo.
Scient Agent is ScientFactory’s agent. It uses a scient-agent executable you point Scient at; Scient
does not install it yet. It is a fork of Oh My Pi and shares nothing with an Oh My Pi installation.
OpenCode uses its own multi-provider credential and runtime configuration. Scient does not present one universal OpenCode account, sign-out action, or Scient-managed installation because its upstream connections may use unrelated API keys, OAuth accounts, or local models.
Troubleshooting
- Open Settings > Providers and use Manage to inspect runtime source, account state, and recovery actions.
- Use Repair only for a Scient-managed runtime. Update a custom or system installation with the tool that installed it.
- If a provider reports an account but no usable models, check subscription access, quota, billing, or provider availability before signing in again.
- Runtime diagnostics describe the server and may show paths from another computer when you are connected remotely.