Models & Reasoning DSH plugins

Model plugins change which model answers and how: adapters for third party endpoints, routers that pick a model per task, fallback chains when a provider fails, token and cost accounting, and reasoning effort controls.

Read the routing rules before you rely on them. An adapter that silently falls back to a cheaper model can change output quality without telling you, and cost plugins are only useful if they attribute usage to the provider that actually served the request.

How to choose in this category

Write down the policy you want before shopping: which models are allowed, what happens on provider failure, and whether cost is hard-capped. Then find the plugin that implements that policy visibly. Silent fallback is a bug for anything that affects quality gates.

Credential handling is non-negotiable. Keys belong in profile config or environment, not in prompts the transcript keeps. For cost widgets and balance trackers, check whether the number is live API truth or a local bookkeeping guess.

What is mature versus thin here

Mature adapters document base URLs, auth, and failure modes. Thin ones are a single endpoint field with no timeout story. Routing suites that also inject skills should be reviewed for both surfaces: a model router that also rewrites agent behaviour is two plugins wearing one name.

Common mistakes

Assuming “OpenAI-compatible” means identical behaviour for every parameter. Letting a free public endpoint become production load-bearing. Installing a cost tracker that needs the same broad key as the model it is watching.

When this category is the wrong fix

If the model is simply wrong for the task, no router fixes that. If the real problem is context quality, start with context inspection rather than another endpoint. If the pain is “the agent never stops,” that is orchestration discipline, not model selection.

Routing also multiplies trust boundaries. Every endpoint you allow is another place a prompt and its tool output can land. Prefer fewer, named providers with explicit failure behaviour over a dozen free tiers chained “just in case.”