Skip to main content
VectorLint sends your content to an LLM (Large Language Model) for review. Configure a provider and supply credentials before running your first review.

​
Supported providers

​
How VectorLint loads credentials

VectorLint resolves credentials in this order. Later sources override earlier ones:
  1. Built-in defaults
  2. Global config: ~/.vectorlint/config.toml
  3. Local .env file in your project root
  4. Shell environment variables
This means you can set a global default provider in config.toml and override it per project with a .env file, or override both with environment variables in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).

​
Generate a configuration file

Run vectorlint init to generate ~/.vectorlint/config.toml with placeholder values for all supported providers. Fill in the key for the provider you want to use and leave the others blank.

​
OpenAI

Get your API key at platform.openai.com/api-keys. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file
Shell / CI environment variables

​
Anthropic

Get your API key at console.anthropic.com. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file
Shell / CI environment variables

​
Azure OpenAI

In addition to the API key, Azure OpenAI requires your resource endpoint, deployment name, and API version. Find these in the Azure portal under your Azure OpenAI resource. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file
Shell / CI environment variables

​
Google Gemini

Get your API key at aistudio.google.com/app/apikey. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file
Shell / CI environment variables

​
Amazon Bedrock

VectorLint accesses Claude models through Amazon Bedrock. You can omit AWS credentials if your environment has an Identity and Access Management (IAM) role or if you’ve configured a credential profile in ~/.aws/credentials. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file
Shell / Continuous Integration (CI) environment variables
If your environment already provides AWS credentials through an IAM role or ~/.aws/credentials, you can omit AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY.

​
Search provider (optional)

The technical-accuracy evaluator verifies factual claims against live web search. You need a separate search provider credential. VectorLint currently supports Perplexity for this purpose. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file
You don’t need a search provider for standard base evaluator rules.

​
Tracking LLM costs

You can configure per-token pricing so VectorLint calculates and reports estimated costs after each run. Check your provider’s pricing page for current values. Global config (~/.vectorlint/config.toml)
Project .env file

​
Using VectorLint in CI/CD

In GitHub Actions, store credentials as repository secrets and pass them as environment variables. Never hard-code API keys in workflow files.
For other CI/CD systems, use the equivalent secret mechanism: GitLab CI variables, CircleCI contexts, or Jenkins credentials.

​
Security practices

Keep credentials out of version control. Add .env and any local config files to .gitignore:
Use separate keys per project or team. Project-scoped keys let you rotate more easily if compromised and give you granular cost tracking. Rotate keys periodically. Generate a new key in the provider dashboard, update your configuration, verify VectorLint still works, then delete the old key.

​
Troubleshooting

Authentication failed or Invalid API key: Verify the key value is correct, confirm it hasn’t expired, and check that your account has available credits. Unknown provider: xyz: Check that LLM_PROVIDER matches one of the supported values exactly: openai, anthropic, azure-openai, gemini, amazon-bedrock. The value is case-sensitive. Configuration not loading: Verify the global config is at ~/.vectorlint/config.toml and the file is readable. Confirm the TOML syntax is valid. As a quick test, try passing the credentials as environment variables directly. Rate limit exceeded: Reduce the Concurrency setting in the .vectorlint.ini file in your project, upgrade your API tier with the provider, or switch to a provider with higher rate limits.