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Prime Intellect Provider Guide

Prime Intellect Inference is a Tier-2 catalog provider: OpenAI-wire-compatible with no behavioural quirks, so its entire integration is one JSON file (src/lib/providers/catalog/prime-intellect.json) rather than hand-written code. That file is the source of truth for everything on this page.

Verification status: this entry is docs- and roster-verified, not yet live-verified. Every field below comes from Prime Intellect's own public documentation, its public OpenAPI spec, and unauthenticated GET requests to https://api.pinference.ai — no API key was created or used to build it, and no POST was sent. evidence.liveMatrix is null until someone runs the live capability matrix with a real key (see Verification status below).

Key Facts​

  • Provider id: prime-intellect
  • Protocol: OpenAI-compatible (/chat/completions) — Prime's inference overview calls it "OpenAI-compatible API access" and shows the official openai client pointed at a custom base_url (https://docs.primeintellect.ai/inference/overview)
  • Base URL: https://api.pinference.ai/api/v1. The inference host (pinference.ai) is a different domain from the docs and dashboard host (primeintellect.ai); both are confirmed on the vendor's own pages
  • Default model: openai/gpt-4.1-mini
  • Models in catalog: 12 (curated from a 125-model roster read on 2026-09-29; the discovery queue recorded 124, so the roster moves)
  • What it is: a gateway. 119 of the 125 roster entries are serving: "gateway" (routed to upstream providers); the other 6 are serving: "hosted" (served on Prime infrastructure) and are third-party Qwen and GLM models. No Prime-trained model appears on the roster
  • Streaming: supported — documented on the Advanced Usage and Chat Completions reference pages (stream: true)
  • Tool calling: model-dependent — the docs pages do not describe function calling, but the roster's own per-model supported_parameters field lists tools and tool_choice for 111 of 125 models and omits them for others (see Verification status for the basis)
  • Structured output: declared true on the same basis — response_format is listed for 106 of 125 roster models, structured_outputs for 102. It is per-model, not universal
  • Structured output + tools together: not declared (false) — no combined probe was possible without credentials
  • Embeddings / thinking: not declared. No inference page describes either
  • Billing: no-free-tier — Prime states billing is "automatic deduction from your Prime Intellect account balance". No free tier or trial credit is documented on the pages read. The catalog schema has no "unknown" billing value, so no-free-tier here means none documented, not vendor-confirmed none
  • Key format: none declared by Prime Intellect

Quick Start​

1. Get an API key​

  1. Visit: https://app.primeintellect.ai/dashboard/tokens (Settings -> API Keys) and sign in
  2. Click Generate New Key and enable the Inference permission — without it requests fail with authentication errors (https://docs.primeintellect.ai/inference/overview); the key is shown only once, so copy it straight away (https://docs.primeintellect.ai/api-reference/api-keys)
  3. Billing is automatic deduction from your Prime Intellect account balance (https://docs.primeintellect.ai/inference/overview); no free tier or trial credit is documented on the pages read, so add funds at https://app.primeintellect.ai/dashboard/billing and confirm current terms before the first call
  4. Set PRIME_INTELLECT_API_KEY in your .env file (PRIME_API_KEY, the variable Prime's own docs use, is also read)

2. Configure​

export PRIME_INTELLECT_API_KEY=your-api-key
export PRIME_INTELLECT_MODEL=openai/gpt-4.1-mini   # optional — overrides the default model
export PRIME_INTELLECT_BASE_URL=https://api.pinference.ai/api/v1   # optional — proxy or self-hosted gateway

3. Use it​

import { NeuroLink } from "@juspay/neurolink";

const neurolink = new NeuroLink();

const result = await neurolink.generate({
  input: { text: "Explain context windows in one paragraph." },
  provider: "prime-intellect",
  model: "openai/gpt-4.1-mini",
});

console.log(result.content);
# CLI
npx @juspay/neurolink generate "Hello" --provider prime-intellect

Per-request credentials work as they do for every provider:

await neurolink.generate({
  input: { text: "Hello" },
  provider: "prime-intellect",
  credentials: {
    primeIntellect: { apiKey: process.env.PRIME_INTELLECT_API_KEY },
  },
});

Models​

ModelContextVision$/M in · outNotes
openai/gpt-4.1-mini ⭐1,047,576yes$0.40 / $1.60Recommended — Prime's Evaluating Environments guide lists it as "Fast, cost-effective (default)" and uses it as the default model of its inference-backed eval flow.
openai/gpt-4.11,047,576yes$2 / $8Listed in the same guide as "Higher quality"; fallback.
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.51,000,000yes$3 / $15Listed in the same guide as "Strong reasoning"; fallback.
meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct131,072no$1.04 / $2.253Listed in the same guide as "Open-weight, balanced"; fallback.
google/gemini-2.5-flash1,048,576yes$0.30 / $2.50Listed in the same guide as "Fast multimodal".
Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507262,144no$0.25 / $1The guide lists a lowercase id that is not on today's roster; this id is the roster's differently cased entry.
z-ai/glm-5.31,048,576no$1.40 / $4.40 (cached $0.26)Served hosted on Prime infrastructure; reasoning is marked mandatory (default effort max); no response_format in its supported_parameters.
openai/gpt-5.4-mini400,000yes$0.75 / $4.50Named in the Troubleshooting page's direct-API examples.
openai/gpt-oss-120b131,072no$0.35 / $0.75Roster-listed only; reasoning marked mandatory.
deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash1,048,576no$0.44 / $1.32Roster-listed only.
anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5200,000yes$1 / $5Roster-listed only.
Qwen/Qwen3.5-122B-A10Bnot givenno$0.30 / $0.90 (cached $0.27)Served hosted; the roster gives no context window or modalities, so none are declared. Vision false is a schema default, not a vendor statement.

Context, output caps, prices and input modalities are taken from an unauthenticated GET https://api.pinference.ai/api/v1/models call made 2026-09-29 (125 models total; 12 curated into this catalog). Per-model maxOutputTokens in the JSON is the roster's max_output_tokens as served — for example 32,768 for the default, and 235,929 for Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507, which is reported as-is and not independently checked. vision: true follows the roster's image input modality; no image request was sent.

models.defaultContextWindow (131,072) and models.defaultMaxOutputTokens (16,384) are not vendor-stated general defaults — Prime documents none. They are the smallest context and output figures the roster reports among the curated models, used as a conservative floor for any id without its own figure.

Prices carry an effective_at date on the roster and Prime's overview page says pricing details are still to come, so treat them as a snapshot.

The models were picked for the docs that name them (the Evaluating Environments guide and the Troubleshooting page), not ranked by quality. Prime's own docs also show meta-llama/llama-3.1-70b-instruct, deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528 and anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 in examples; none of those three ids is on today's roster, so they are not in the catalog.

Fallback order when the default is unavailable: openai/gpt-4.1 → anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5 → meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct. The derived single fallback is the second entry, anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5, which routes to a different upstream than the default.

Verification status​

Tier-2 onboarding requires evidence before a provider is accepted, and pnpm run verify:provider-onboarding gates it in CI. This is what the catalog currently records for Prime Intellect — docs- and roster-verified, not live-verified:

ProbeResult
Rosterunauthenticated GET /api/v1/models, HTTP 200, 125 models, 2026-09-29 — no key used
Auth-failure shapeunauthenticated GET /api/v1/models/openai/gpt-4.1-mini with no credentials returned HTTP 401 {"detail":"Authorization header or x-api-key missing", ...} on 2026-09-29. The docs' invalid-key shape (error.code: invalid_api_key, on the Models API reference page) was not probed. One errorRules entry maps HTTP 401 and both wordings to an authentication error
Billingoverview page: "Automatic deduction from your Prime Intellect account balance"; troubleshooting page documents an insufficient_funds error. No free tier stated
Tools / structured outputnot described on any docs page read. The declaration rests on the roster's per-model supported_parameters field (tools, tool_choice, response_format, structured_outputs), which is the vendor's own published metadata, not on a docs page or a live call. Neither was exercised, and no combined tools+schema request was sent — structuredOutputWithTools stays false
Tools + streamingnot documented anywhere read — toolsWithStreaming is false
Live capability sweepnot run. evidence.liveMatrix is null. Before treating this provider as production-ready, run npx tsx test/continuous-test-suite-provider-matrix.ts --provider=prime-intellect with a real key and record the result.

Do not treat this entry as equivalent to a live-verified Tier-2 provider (e.g. FriendliAI, Novita AI) until that live matrix has been run and evidence.liveMatrix is filled in.

Pages opened to build this entry (all on 2026-09-29):

Troubleshooting​

SymptomCauseFix
HTTP 401 / authentication errorMissing key, or a key created without the Inference permission (the overview page says this fails with auth errors)Create a new key at https://app.primeintellect.ai/dashboard/tokens with Inference enabled and set PRIME_INTELLECT_API_KEY
insufficient_funds errorThe billing account behind the key cannot pay for the call (https://docs.primeintellect.ai/inference/troubleshooting)Add funds in the Billing Dashboard, and make sure the key belongs to the account that has funds
Team credits are not usedPrime bills a team only when a request carries an X-Prime-Team-ID header, and this catalog entry sets no extra headers (the catalog schema has no field for one)Without the header Prime bills the key owner's personal balance; fund that balance, or configure the header outside this entry
Model not foundThe roster changed since 2026-09-29, or the id differs in case (the roster has both qwen/... and Qwen/... ids)Pick a current id, copied exactly, from the unauthenticated GET /api/v1/models roster
Structured output ignored with tools attachedstructuredOutputWithTools is false on this entry — untested combinationNeuroLink omits response_format automatically whenever tools are present, before sending
Tool calls or response_format rejectedSupport is per-model: e.g. z-ai/glm-5.3 lists tools but not response_format, and Qwen/Qwen3.5-122B-A10B lists neither on the rosterCheck the model's supported_parameters on the roster, or use a model that lists what you need (e.g. the default)
A model always reasons before answeringThe roster marks reasoning as mandatory on some models (z-ai/glm-5.3, openai/gpt-oss-120b)Prefer the default, or a model whose roster reasoning.mandatory is false

See also​