Skip to main content
The Model CRD connects a specific LLM (such as gpt-4o or claude-sonnet-4-20250514) to its provider credentials and generation parameters. By separating model configuration from the Agent and ModelProvider resources, you can reuse the same model definition across many agents, adjust parameters independently, and manage versions through GitOps workflows. When an agent references a Model, the operator injects the model name and all parameters into the agent’s runtime environment at reconcile time.

API reference


Basic structure


Model names by provider

Use exactly these model identifier strings in spec.model. The value is passed directly to the provider API, so spelling and casing must be precise.

Common parameters

These parameters are supported across all providers. All values are placed under spec.parameters:

Provider-specific parameters

Place OpenAI-specific settings under spec.parameters.openai:

Cross-namespace models

You can create Model resources in a shared namespace and reference them from agents in any other namespace. This is the recommended pattern for team-wide model management:

Status fields


Parameter guidelines

Use this table as a quick reference when tuning your model parameters:

Best practices

  1. Name models descriptively using provider and use case, such as gpt-4o-code or claude-creative, so the purpose is clear at a glance.
  2. Create shared models in a dedicated namespace so all teams reference the same configuration without duplication.
  3. Start with default parameters — only override temperature, maxTokens, or other values when you have a specific reason.
  4. Match model size to task complexity — use cheaper models like gpt-4o-mini for simple classification and reserve large models for complex reasoning.
  5. Set explicit timeOut values that reflect the expected response time for your workload — do not rely on provider defaults.
  6. Enable provider caching (e.g., cacheInstructions, cacheToolDefinitions on Anthropic) to reduce cost and latency for repeated system prompts.
  7. Version-control your Model manifests alongside application code so parameter changes are auditable and reversible.
  8. Monitor token consumption regularly, especially when maxTokens is set to large values like 16 384 or above.