A gateway connects Kestrel One to a model provider. An approved model is one that an administrator has tested and allowed members to select.
Model, provider, and gateway
A provider operates model infrastructure. A gateway is Kestrel One’s trusted connection to it. A model identity is the registry entry selected by a profile or member. These identities remain separate even when their labels look similar.
Provider registry and capabilities
Versioned registry entries record model identity, declared capabilities, qualification, and readiness evidence. Tool calling, structured inputs, context limits, and reasoning formats are not inferred from the model name.
Make a model available
- Register the provider gateway from the administrative model settings.
- Discover the models exposed by that gateway.
- Test the intended model with streaming and a complete tool-call/tool-result round trip.
- Approve the model only after those checks succeed.
- Confirm that an authorized member can select it in a Thread.
Provider credentials remain on trusted Kestrel One services. A member’s browser requests an approved model by identifier; it never receives the provider URL, raw credential, or runner token.
Credential leases
Trusted services issue short-lived leases only after organization, model, gateway, actor, readiness, capability, policy, and budget checks succeed. The browser never receives the lease credential.
Member selection
Members choose approved identifiers exposed for their organization and Environment. A model disappears or becomes unavailable when its owning readiness or authority check fails.
Diagnose denial or mismatch
Inspect organization authority, Environment policy, gateway credential, endpoint/model reachability, registry capability, qualification, budget, and lease decision before changing configuration.
Managed deployments add an infrastructure readiness check to the same approval flow.