Aliases, Profiles, and Lockfile Configuration

Installation

# With uv (recommended)
uv add llmring

# With pip
pip install llmring

When to Create Your Own Lockfile

You MUST create your own llmring.lock for:

• ✅ Any real application
• ✅ Any library you're building
• ✅ Any code you're committing to git

The bundled lockfile that ships with llmring is ONLY for running llmring lock chat. It provides the "advisor" alias so the configuration assistant works. It is NOT for your application.

API Overview

This skill covers:

• Lockfile (llmring.lock) structure and resolution
• Semantic alias naming (use task names, not performance descriptors)
• Profiles for environment-specific configuration
• Fallback models for automatic failover
• CLI commands for lockfile management
• Python API for alias operations

Quick Start

# REQUIRED: Create lockfile in your project
llmring lock init

# BEFORE binding aliases, check available models:
llmring list --provider openai
llmring list --provider anthropic
llmring list --provider google

# THEN bind semantic aliases using CURRENT model names:
llmring bind summarizer "anthropic:claude-3-5-haiku-20241022"
llmring bind analyzer "openai:gpt-4o"

# Or use conversational configuration (recommended - knows current models)
llmring lock chat

⚠️ Important: Always check llmring list --provider <name> for current model names before binding. Model names change frequently (e.g., claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 → claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929).

Using aliases in code:

from llmring import LLMRing, LLMRequest, Message

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Use YOUR semantic alias (defined in llmring.lock)
    request = LLMRequest(
        model="summarizer",  # Resolves to model you configured
        messages=[Message(role="user", content="Hello")]
    )
    response = await service.chat(request)

Choosing Alias Names

Use domain-specific semantic names:

• ✅ "summarizer" - Clear what it does
• ✅ "code-reviewer" - Describes purpose
• ✅ "extractor" - Self-documenting
• ✅ "sql-generator" - Intent is obvious

Avoid generic performance descriptors:

• ❌ "fast", "balanced", "deep" - Don't describe the task

Generic names like "fast" appear in examples for illustration only. Real applications should use names that describe the task, not model characteristics.

Lockfile Resolution Order

LLMRing searches for lockfiles in this order:

1. Explicit path via lockfile_path parameter (must exist)
2. Environment variable LLMRING_LOCKFILE_PATH (must exist)
3. Current directory ./llmring.lock (if exists)
4. LLMRing's internal lockfile (only for llmring lock chat - NOT for your app)

Example:

from llmring import LLMRing

# Use explicit lockfile
async with LLMRing(lockfile_path="./my-llmring.lock") as service:
    pass

# Or set via environment variable
# export LLMRING_LOCKFILE_PATH=/path/to/llmring.lock

# Or place llmring.lock in current directory (auto-detected)

Lockfile Structure

Lockfiles use TOML format:

version = "1.0"
default_profile = "default"

[profiles.default]
name = "default"

[[profiles.default.bindings]]
alias = "summarizer"
models = ["openai:gpt-4o-mini"]

[[profiles.default.bindings]]
alias = "analyzer"
models = [
    "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",   # Primary
    "openai:gpt-4o",                           # Fallback
    "google:gemini-2.5-pro"                    # Second fallback
]

[[profiles.default.bindings]]
alias = "code-reviewer"
models = ["anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"]

[profiles.dev]
name = "dev"

[[profiles.dev.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["openai:gpt-4o-mini"]  # Cheaper for development

[profiles.prod]
name = "prod"

[[profiles.prod.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"]  # Higher quality for production

CLI Commands

llmring lock init

Create a new lockfile with registry-based defaults.

# Create in current directory
llmring lock init

# Overwrite existing
llmring lock init --force

# Create at specific path
llmring lock init --file path/to/llmring.lock

What it does:

• Fetches recommended models from registry
• Creates default profile with common aliases
• Places lockfile in appropriate location

llmring bind

Bind an alias to one or more models.

# Bind to single model
llmring bind fast "openai:gpt-4o-mini"

# Bind with fallbacks
llmring bind balanced "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929,openai:gpt-4o"

# Bind to specific profile
llmring bind assistant "openai:gpt-4o-mini" --profile dev
llmring bind assistant "anthropic:claude-opus-4" --profile prod

Format:

• Model references: provider:model
• Multiple models: comma-separated for fallbacks
• Profile: --profile name (defaults to "default")

llmring aliases

List all configured aliases.

# List aliases in default profile
llmring aliases

# List aliases in specific profile
llmring aliases --profile dev

# Show with details
llmring aliases --verbose

Output:

fast → openai:gpt-4o-mini
balanced → anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 (+ 2 fallbacks)
deep → anthropic:claude-opus-4

llmring lock chat

Conversational lockfile management with AI advisor.

# Start interactive chat for lockfile configuration
llmring lock chat

What it does:

• Natural language interface for configuration
• AI-powered recommendations based on registry
• Explains cost implications and tradeoffs
• Configures aliases with fallback models
• Sets up environment-specific profiles

Example session:

You: I need a fast, cheap model for development
Advisor: I recommend gpt-4o-mini - it's $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens...
You: Set that as my 'dev' alias
Advisor: Done! Added binding dev → openai:gpt-4o-mini

llmring lock validate

Validate lockfile structure and bindings.

# Validate lockfile
llmring lock validate

# Validate specific file
llmring lock validate --file path/to/llmring.lock

Python API

LLMRing with Lockfile

from llmring import LLMRing

# Use lockfile from current directory or bundled default
async with LLMRing() as service:
    pass

# Use specific lockfile
async with LLMRing(lockfile_path="./custom.lock") as service:
    pass

Resolving Aliases

from llmring import LLMRing

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Resolve alias to concrete model reference
    model_ref = service.resolve_alias("fast")
    print(model_ref)  # "openai:gpt-4o-mini"

    # Resolve with profile
    model_ref = service.resolve_alias("assistant", profile="dev")
    print(model_ref)  # Profile-specific binding

Binding Aliases Programmatically

from llmring import LLMRing

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Bind alias to model
    service.bind_alias("myalias", "openai:gpt-4o")

    # Bind with profile
    service.bind_alias("assistant", "openai:gpt-4o-mini", profile="dev")

Listing Aliases

from llmring import LLMRing

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Get all aliases for default profile
    aliases = service.list_aliases()
    for alias, model in aliases.items():
        print(f"{alias} → {model}")

    # Get aliases for specific profile
    aliases = service.list_aliases(profile="dev")

Unbinding Aliases

from llmring import LLMRing

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Remove alias from default profile
    service.unbind_alias("myalias")

    # Remove alias from specific profile
    service.unbind_alias("assistant", profile="dev")

Initializing Lockfile Programmatically

from llmring import LLMRing

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Create new lockfile with defaults
    service.init_lockfile()

    # Overwrite existing lockfile
    service.init_lockfile(force=True)

Clearing Alias Cache

Aliases are cached for performance. Clear when updating lockfile:

from llmring import LLMRing

async with LLMRing() as service:
    # Clear all cached aliases
    service.clear_alias_cache()

    # Now fresh lookups from lockfile
    model = service.resolve_alias("fast")

Profiles: Environment-Specific Configuration

Profiles let you use different models in different environments.

Profile Setup

# llmring.lock
[profiles.dev]
name = "dev"
[[profiles.dev.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["openai:gpt-4o-mini"]  # Cheap

[profiles.staging]
name = "staging"
[[profiles.staging.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"]  # Mid-tier

[profiles.prod]
name = "prod"
[[profiles.prod.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = [
    "anthropic:claude-opus-4",    # Best quality
    "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"  # Fallback
]

Using Profiles

Via environment variable:

# Set profile for entire application
export LLMRING_PROFILE=dev

# Now all requests use 'dev' profile
python my_app.py

Via CLI:

# Use specific profile
llmring chat "Hello" --profile dev

# List aliases in profile
llmring aliases --profile prod

In code:

from llmring import LLMRing, LLMRequest, Message

async with LLMRing() as service:
    request = LLMRequest(
        model="assistant",
        messages=[Message(role="user", content="Hello")]
    )

    # Use dev profile
    response = await service.chat(request, profile="dev")

    # Use prod profile
    response = await service.chat(request, profile="prod")

Profile Selection Priority

1. Explicit parameter: profile="dev" or --profile dev (highest)
2. Environment variable: LLMRING_PROFILE=dev
3. Default: default profile (lowest)

Common Profile Use Cases

• dev: Cheap, fast models for development
• test: Local models (Ollama) or mocks
• staging: Production-like but with cost savings
• prod: Highest quality models
• a-b-testing: Different models for the same alias

Fallback Models

Aliases can specify multiple models for automatic failover.

Lockfile:

[[profiles.default.bindings]]
alias = "balanced"
models = [
    "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",   # Try first
    "openai:gpt-4o",                  # If first fails
    "google:gemini-2.5-pro"           # If both fail
]

What happens:

async with LLMRing() as service:
    request = LLMRequest(
        model="assistant",  # Your semantic alias
        messages=[Message(role="user", content="Hello")]
    )

    # Tries anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
    # If rate limited or unavailable → tries openai:gpt-4o
    # If that fails → tries google:gemini-2.5-pro
    response = await service.chat(request)

Use cases:

• High availability (failover on rate limits)
• Cost optimization (try cheaper first)
• Provider diversity (avoid single vendor lock-in)

Packaging Lockfiles with Your Application

To ship lockfiles with your Python package:

Add to pyproject.toml:

[tool.hatch.build]
include = [
    "src/yourpackage/**/*.py",
    "src/yourpackage/**/*.lock",  # Include lockfiles
]

Or with setuptools, add to MANIFEST.in:

include src/yourpackage/*.lock

In your package:

mypackage/
├── src/
│   └── mypackage/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       └── llmring.lock       # Ship with package
├── pyproject.toml
└── README.md

Users can then override:

from llmring import LLMRing

# Uses your package's bundled lockfile by default
async with LLMRing() as service:
    pass

# Or override with their own
async with LLMRing(lockfile_path="./my-llmring.lock") as service:
    pass

Using LLMRing in Libraries

If building a library that uses LLMRing, follow this pattern:

Pattern:

1. Ship with bundled llmring.lock
2. Accept lockfile_path parameter for user override
3. Validate required aliases in __init__
4. Document required aliases in README

Simple Library Example:

from pathlib import Path
from llmring import LLMRing

DEFAULT_LOCKFILE = Path(__file__).parent / "llmring.lock"
REQUIRED_ALIASES = ["summarizer"]

class MyLibrary:
    def __init__(self, lockfile_path=None):
        """Initialize with optional custom lockfile.

        Args:
            lockfile_path: Optional path to custom lockfile.
                          If None, uses library's bundled lockfile.

        Raises:
            ValueError: If lockfile missing required aliases
        """
        lockfile = lockfile_path or DEFAULT_LOCKFILE
        self.ring = LLMRing(lockfile_path=lockfile)

        # Validate required aliases (fail fast with clear error)
        self.ring.require_aliases(REQUIRED_ALIASES, context="my-library")

    def summarize(self, text: str) -> str:
        return self.ring.chat("summarizer", messages=[...]).content

Validation Helpers:

from llmring import LLMRing

ring = LLMRing(lockfile_path="./my.lock")

# Check if alias exists (returns bool, never raises)
if ring.has_alias("summarizer"):
    response = ring.chat("summarizer", messages=[...])

# Validate required aliases (raises ValueError if missing)
ring.require_aliases(
    ["summarizer", "analyzer"],
    context="my-library"  # Included in error message
)
# Error: "Lockfile missing required aliases for my-library: analyzer.
#         Lockfile path: /path/to/lockfile.lock
#         Please ensure your lockfile defines these aliases."

Library Composition:

When Library B uses Library A, pass lockfile to both:

class LibraryB:
    def __init__(self, lockfile_path=None):
        lockfile = lockfile_path or DEFAULT_LOCKFILE

        # Pass lockfile to Library A (gives us control)
        self.lib_a = LibraryA(lockfile_path=lockfile)

        # Use same lockfile for our own LLMRing
        self.ring = LLMRing(lockfile_path=lockfile)
        self.ring.require_aliases(REQUIRED_ALIASES, context="library-b")

User Override:

from my_library import MyLibrary

# Use library defaults
lib = MyLibrary()

# Override with custom lockfile
lib = MyLibrary(lockfile_path="./my-models.lock")

Best Practices:

• Validate with require_aliases() in __init__
• Document required aliases clearly
• Pass lockfile down when using other llmring libraries

Common Patterns

Development vs Production

# Development: use cheap models
export LLMRING_PROFILE=dev
llmring bind assistant "openai:gpt-4o-mini" --profile dev

# Production: use best models
llmring bind assistant "anthropic:claude-opus-4" --profile prod

Semantic Aliases

# Meaningful names instead of model IDs
llmring bind summarizer "openai:gpt-4o-mini"
llmring bind analyst "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"
llmring bind coder "openai:gpt-4o"

Use in code:

# Clear intent from alias names
summarizer_request = LLMRequest(model="summarizer", ...)
analyst_request = LLMRequest(model="analyst", ...)
coder_request = LLMRequest(model="coder", ...)

Multi-Region Deployments

[profiles.us-west]
[[profiles.us-west.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["openai:gpt-4o"]

[profiles.eu-central]
[[profiles.eu-central.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"]  # Better EU availability

Common Mistakes

Wrong: Hardcoding Model IDs

# DON'T DO THIS - brittle, hard to change
request = LLMRequest(
    model="openai:gpt-4o-mini",
    messages=[...]
)

Right: Use Semantic Aliases

# DO THIS - flexible, easy to update
request = LLMRequest(
    model="summarizer",  # Semantic name defined in lockfile
    messages=[...]
)

Wrong: No Fallback Models

# DON'T DO THIS - single point of failure
[[profiles.default.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = ["anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"]

Right: Include Fallbacks

# DO THIS - automatic failover
[[profiles.default.bindings]]
alias = "assistant"
models = [
    "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    "openai:gpt-4o",
    "google:gemini-2.5-pro"
]

Wrong: Not Using Profiles

# DON'T DO THIS - same models everywhere
if os.getenv("ENV") == "dev":
    model = "openai:gpt-4o-mini"
else:
    model = "anthropic:claude-opus-4"

request = LLMRequest(model=model, ...)

Right: Use Profiles

# DO THIS - let lockfile handle it
# export LLMRING_PROFILE=dev  (or prod)
request = LLMRequest(model="assistant", ...)

Wrong: Invalid Model References

# DON'T DO THIS - wrong format
llmring bind fast "gpt-4o-mini"  # Missing provider!

Right: Provider:Model Format

# DO THIS - include provider
llmring bind fast "openai:gpt-4o-mini"

Best Practices

1. Use semantic aliases: Names like "fast", "balanced", "analyst" are clearer than model IDs
2. Configure fallbacks: Always have backup models for high availability
3. Use profiles for environments: Different models for dev/staging/prod
4. Ship lockfiles with packages: Include in your package distribution
5. Use conversational config: llmring lock chat for easy setup
6. Document aliases: In your README, explain what each alias is for
7. Clear cache after updates: Call clear_alias_cache() after lockfile changes

Error Handling

from llmring import LLMRing
from llmring.exceptions import ModelNotFoundError

async with LLMRing() as service:
    try:
        # Resolve alias
        model_ref = service.resolve_alias("myalias")
    except ModelNotFoundError:
        print("Alias not found in lockfile")

    try:
        # Use alias in request
        request = LLMRequest(model="myalias", messages=[...])
        response = await service.chat(request)
    except ModelNotFoundError:
        print("Could not resolve alias to available model")

Related Skills

• llmring-chat - Basic chat using aliases
• llmring-streaming - Streaming with aliases
• llmring-tools - Tools with aliased models
• llmring-structured - Structured output with aliases
• llmring-providers - Direct provider access (bypassing aliases)

Summary

Lockfiles provide:

• Semantic aliases (readable, maintainable)
• Automatic failover (high availability)
• Environment-specific configs (dev/staging/prod)
• Centralized model management
• Easy model updates without code changes

Recommendation: Always use aliases instead of direct model references for flexibility and maintainability.