kimchi-provider — Kimchi models via API key

Hermes Agent model-provider plugin: use Kimchi models with Hermes' own agent loop over the OpenAI-compatible gateway (https://llm.kimchi.dev/openai/v1).

This is Layer 1 of the two-plugin kimchi-hermes monorepo — the API-key alternative to kimchi-acp-provider, which drives the full Kimchi harness over ACP.

Install

hermes plugins install getkimchi/kimchi-hermes/model-providers/kimchi
# or, once listed in the Hermes plugin catalog:
hermes plugins install kimchi-provider

The installer prompts for KIMCHI_API_KEY if it is not already set (the key is stored in ~/.hermes/.env, masked at entry).

Authenticate

export KIMCHI_API_KEY=...   # or persist it in ~/.hermes/.env

Use

hermes model    # pick "Kimchi"
hermes          # you're on Kimchi

Or make it the default in ~/.hermes/config.yaml:

model:
  default: glm-5.3-flash
  provider: kimchi

The model picker lists the live catalog fetched from Kimchi's model metadata endpoint. There is deliberately no hardcoded fallback list: a transient fetch failure means an empty picker until the next attempt — never a stale list.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
KIMCHI_API_KEY	API key (required; checked before ~/.hermes/.env)
KIMCHI_BASE_URL	Override the inference gateway base URL

Behaviour & disclosures

• Network: fetches the live model catalog from https://llm.kimchi.dev/v1/models/metadata with your API key attached (Authorization header, via Hermes' credentialed-URL wrapper). Model inference goes through Hermes' own provider client to https://llm.kimchi.dev/openai/v1.
• Credentials: none stored by the plugin — the key is resolved by Hermes' built-in env / ~/.hermes/.env ladder.
• Error mapping: the Kimchi gateway's "no registered providers found" 400 (unknown model id) is classified as model_not_found, so Hermes' model-not-found recovery applies instead of a generic format error.
• Registers only a provider profile (register_provider); no tools, no hooks, no middleware.

Known limitations

See the monorepo README (Roadmap & known gaps) and SPEC.md for the full evidence table and decision log.