What causes "LiteLLM is not available for local use. Change config.ini" in Fosowl/agenticSeek?

Edit config.ini and switch the provider away from local mode (set is_local/local flag off and pick a cloud model)

Fosowl/agenticSeek · error · Exception

LiteLLM is not available for local use. Change config.ini

Error message

LiteLLM is not available for local use. Change config.ini

What it means

litellm_fn explicitly rejects local configurations: if the provider was constructed with is_local=True (a local model chosen in config.ini), it raises a plain Exception saying LiteLLM routing is only for cloud providers. LiteLLM completion here always targets hosted APIs via model prefixes, so local backends are unsupported by design.

Solutions

Edit config.ini and switch the provider away from local mode (set is_local/local flag off and pick a cloud model)
Use the dedicated local-model code path in LLMProvider instead of litellm_fn
Instantiate a separate LLMProvider configured for a cloud provider when you need LiteLLM routing

Example fix

// before (config.ini)
[PROVIDER]
provider = litellm
local = true
// after (config.ini)
[PROVIDER]
provider = litellm
local = false
model = openai/gpt-4o-mini

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if provider.is_local:
    raise SystemExit('litellm_fn requires a cloud provider: set local = false in config.ini')

Try / catch

try:
    thought = provider.litellm_fn(history)
except Exception as e:
    if 'not available for local use' in str(e):
        logger.error('Fix config.ini: LiteLLM cannot serve local models here')
    raise

Prevention

Check provider.is_local before selecting the litellm backend
Keep config.ini provider/local settings consistent with the code path you call
Document that local models use a separate pipeline in this library
Validate config.ini at startup, before any LLM calls

When it happens

Trigger: Calling LLMProvider.litellm_fn(history) when the provider instance was built from a config.ini entry selecting a local model (is_local=True).

Common situations: Developer flips the provider to litellm in config.ini but leaves `local = true` / local model settings; reusing one provider object across local and cloud pipelines; misunderstanding that litellm can proxy Ollama-style local endpoints in this wrapper.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Fosowl/agenticSeek@ae57a23577 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/213edf97e86bef65. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sources/llm_provider.py:522

            raise NetworkError("Network error occurred. Check your internet connection.") from e
        except APIError as e:
            raise APIError(f"API error occurred: {str(e)}") from e
        return None

    def litellm_fn(self, history, verbose=False):
        """
        Use LiteLLM AI gateway for completion.
        Routes to 100+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, Bedrock,
        Vertex AI, Groq, Together, Ollama, etc.) based on model prefix.
        See https://docs.litellm.ai/docs/providers
        """
        try:
            import litellm
        except ImportError as e:
            raise ImportError("litellm is not installed. Install with: pip install litellm") from e

        if self.is_local:
            raise Exception("LiteLLM is not available for local use. Change config.ini")

        api_key = os.getenv("LITELLM_API_KEY", None)

        try:
            call_kwargs = {
                "model": self.model,
                "messages": history,
                "drop_params": True,
            }
            if api_key:
                call_kwargs["api_key"] = api_key
            response = litellm.completion(**call_kwargs)
            if response is None:
                raise Exception("LiteLLM response is empty.")
            thought = response.choices[0].message.content
            if verbose:
                print(thought)
            return thought

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