Providers are where your models run: the LeanZero MLX engine on your own Macs, the cloud providers you've signed in to, and any OpenAI-compatible server you add. A provider is the source; to use one for work, you turn one of its models into a node. Elzi ships without models, so the first step is to download a local model or connect a cloud provider.
Local models with LeanZero MLX
The LeanZero MLX tab runs models on your own Macs with the MLX engine. It needs no credentials. The app walks you through three steps: connect your other Macs if you have them, get a model, and run it.
- Your Macs: connect your other Macs through LeanZero Link, or skip this to use only this Mac.
- Models: download a model from Hugging Face into the models folder. Each Mac has one models folder, used for downloads, copies and loads alike.
- Run it: start the model on this Mac, on another Mac or across two.
The tab also has Engine, Memory and Sampling settings. The engine serves one model at a time per Mac. LM Studio models already running on your network join the pool by themselves.
Cloud providers
The Cloud Providers tab lists the key-based providers Elzi supports: Claude (Anthropic), Amazon Bedrock, Azure Foundry, OpenAI, Gemini (Google), Qwen (Alibaba), OpenRouter, Ollama Cloud, MiniMax, Mistral AI, Z.AI, xAI, Moonshot and DeepSeek.
- Choose "Set up" next to the provider and paste your key.
- Elzi asks the provider for its model list. Pick the default model.
- Save. Saving runs the model once, which is how the key is proven.
Keys are encrypted into Elzi's secret store on your Mac. "Recheck connections" tests the saved providers again. Usage is billed by the provider, on your account.
OpenAI-compatible endpoints
"Add endpoint" connects any server that speaks the OpenAI API, such as vLLM, llama.cpp, Together, Groq or a company gateway. You can add as many as you need. These endpoints are chat only for now: chats and nodes can use them, swarm builds can't yet.
Facts on this page were checked against our own test records on 6 November 2026.