- what a parameter does
- what type it expects
- the typical range or accepted values
- whether it changes quality, cost, latency, or routing behavior
Quick lookup
Endpoint notes
service_tier is supported on the main text request surfaces:
Use priority or flex only when the selected model and provider combination supports them. Phaseo keeps priority as the canonical premium tier; OpenAI routes also accept fast as an alias. standard is the default when service_tier is omitted.
Batch is not a service_tier value. Batch requests use the separate Batch API.
For Anthropic-compatible Messages requests, Anthropic’s native upstream values are auto and standard_only. Phaseo may normalize or map these values across providers while preserving Anthropic-compatible behavior on /v1/messages.
If you are using an official Anthropic SDK with a custom base URL pointed at Phaseo, prefer Anthropic-native values on /v1/messages. For normalized cross-provider tier controls such as priority and flex, or OpenAI’s fast alias, prefer raw HTTP requests or the gateway-native / OpenAI-style text APIs.
Parameter reference
model
Selects the gateway model id for the request.
Use the canonical model id shown on each model page quickstart unless you intentionally want to rely on an accepted alias. Canonical ids are the safest choice for examples, automation, and long-lived integrations.
stream
Returns output incrementally over Server-Sent Events instead of waiting for one final response body.
Turn this on for chat UIs, token-by-token rendering, or long responses where early output improves UX. Leave it off when you want one complete JSON response, simpler retries, or easier structured parsing.
Notes:
- Streaming support varies by endpoint.
- Streaming is usually a transport choice, not a quality control.
- Tool-calling or structured-output flows may still stream differently by provider.
temperature
Controls how random token selection can be.
Lower values make output more conservative and repeatable. Higher values increase variety, which can help for brainstorming or creative writing but can also reduce consistency and schema adherence.
Good fits:
- extraction
- classification
- JSON or schema output
- creative generation
- Start low for structured tasks.
- Change either
temperatureortop_pfirst, not both. - High temperature plus aggressive quantization can magnify instability.
top_p
Applies nucleus sampling by limiting candidates to the smallest token set whose cumulative probability mass reaches top_p.
Lower values make the model choose from a narrower probability mass, which usually produces safer and more focused output. Higher values let the model consider a broader set of tokens.
Notes:
- Tune
top_pwhen you want a narrower or broader search space without directly changing temperature. - For most applications, moderate
temperatureand near-1.0top_pis a reasonable baseline.
top_k
Restricts sampling to the top-k candidate tokens at each step on providers that expose it.
Lower
top_k values tighten the model’s choices and can make output more predictable. Higher values widen the candidate pool.
Notes:
top_kis not available on every provider.- Treat it as a more explicit token-pool limiter than
top_p.
max_tokens
Caps output length on endpoints and providers that still use the max_tokens field name.
Use it to control cost, latency, and truncation risk. If this value is too small, the output can appear incomplete even when the model behaved correctly.
max_output_tokens
Caps output length on routes that use max_output_tokens instead of max_tokens.
This is semantically the same kind of control as
max_tokens, but you should send the field name expected by the selected endpoint or SDK surface.
max_completion_tokens
Caps output length on newer OpenAI-style text APIs that use max_completion_tokens.
This is another output-token budget field. Use the endpoint’s expected name rather than mixing output-length aliases in one request shape.
frequency_penalty
Discourages repeated tokens in proportion to how often they have already appeared.
Raise this when the model loops, repeats phrases, or overuses the same wording.
presence_penalty
Discourages reusing tokens once they have appeared at all, which can help the model explore new topics or wording.
Compared with
frequency_penalty, this is usually a broader novelty control rather than a repeat-count control.
repetition_penalty
Applies provider-specific anti-repetition behavior outside the classic OpenAI-style penalty fields.
The intent is similar to
frequency_penalty and presence_penalty, but the semantics vary more by provider. Treat it as provider-native behavior rather than a universally identical control.
seed
Requests deterministic sampling when the upstream provider supports seeded generation.
Use this for debugging, regression testing, and reproducing behavior as closely as the upstream platform allows. Seeded generation improves reproducibility, but exact determinism is not guaranteed across all providers or infrastructure changes.
stop
Defines one or more sequences that terminate generation early.
This is useful when you need hard output boundaries, such as stopping before a footer, tool delimiter, or next synthetic section.
logprobs
Requests token-level probability metadata where available.
This is mainly useful for analysis, evaluation, ranking, debugging, and confidence-style workflows. It is not usually needed for standard product responses.
top_logprobs
Requests the top alternative candidate tokens for each output position alongside their log probabilities.
Use this when you need to inspect alternative token branches rather than only the chosen output token.
tools
Declares callable tools or functions for tool-using model workflows.
Use the OpenAI-style tool schema unless the endpoint docs say otherwise. Tool declarations describe what the model may call, not whether it must call one.
tool_choice
Controls whether the model may call tools automatically, must not call tools, or must use a specific tool.
Use
none when you want content only, auto when the model may decide, and stricter values when downstream orchestration requires a tool call.
parallel_tool_calls
Allows or disallows concurrent tool calls on compatible tool-calling APIs.
Disable this when downstream systems require strictly sequential execution, ordered side effects, or simpler agent traces.
response_format
Requests a particular output format such as plain text, JSON, or schema-constrained responses.
Exact accepted shapes depend on the endpoint and provider adapter. Use this when you want more than free-form text, especially for JSON responses and structured extraction flows.
structured_outputs
Signals support for reliably structured or schema-constrained responses on the selected route and provider set.
In quickstart tables, this helps you understand whether the selected endpoint and active providers can reliably support structured-output workflows. It is best interpreted as support metadata.
json_schema
Supplies the JSON schema used for structured output enforcement on compatible models and endpoints.
Use this when your application needs guaranteed fields, typed extraction, or a strict response contract. Keep schemas narrow and task-specific for better adherence.
reasoning
Contains provider-specific reasoning configuration for reasoning-capable APIs.
Depending on the route, this may include enablement, effort, token budget, verbosity, or whether reasoning content is returned.
reasoning_effort
Requests a lower or higher reasoning budget when the endpoint and model expose that control.
Higher effort can improve difficult reasoning tasks at the cost of latency and token usage. Lower effort is often a better fit for faster, cheaper requests.
reasoning_tokens
Represents a reasoning-specific token field where supported.
Depending on the route, this may be a request knob, a limit, or a response accounting field rather than a universally supported request parameter.
include_reasoning
Requests reasoning content or reasoning summaries in responses where supported.
Use this carefully. Reasoning payloads can be larger, may not be available on every model, and may be a poor fit for production responses that do not need extra diagnostic detail.
service_tier
Selects a supported routing or pricing tier on compatible text APIs.
Use
priority or flex only when the chosen model and provider combination supports them. Phaseo keeps priority as the canonical premium tier; supported OpenAI routes also accept fast as an alias with identical routing and pricing. Omit the field to stay on the default standard tier.
Phaseo maps these gateway-normalized tier values to provider-native controls internally, so callers can use the same service_tier values across supported text surfaces.
Notes:
Batchis a separate API flow, not a service-tier value.- Support varies by endpoint and provider.
prompt_cache_key
Provides a stable cache affinity key for prompt-cache-aware routing.
Use this when a series of requests share stable prompt prefixes and should prefer the same upstream provider or region when possible. Phaseo can also derive cache affinity from request context, but an explicit key is better for long-running conversations, agent sessions, and repeated workflows.
cache_control
Applies a provider-neutral prompt cache policy on supported text request surfaces.
Use top-level
cache_control on Chat Completions, Responses, and Anthropic Messages requests when you want the same cache hint to travel through the gateway’s common schema. You can also place cache_control on supported content blocks when you need explicit cache breakpoints.
Typical TTL values are 5m and 1h, depending on provider and model support. Provider-specific aliases such as provider_options.anthropic.cache_control and provider_options.google.cache_control remain accepted for native integrations.
prompt_cache_retention
Sets the OpenAI-compatible prompt cache retention policy on supported OpenAI-routed requests.
Use this when you want to pass OpenAI cache-retention options without nesting them under provider-specific options. The provider-specific alias
provider_options.openai.prompt_cache_retention remains accepted. When both are present, the top-level prompt_cache_retention value takes precedence.
provider
Contains routing constraints and provider preferences.
Use this when you want to influence which upstream providers may execute the request, how they should be ranked, or what compliance requirements must be satisfied.
Common fields include:
provider_options
Contains provider-specific passthrough settings that should not be normalized into the shared gateway request shape.
Examples include:
openai.context_managementopenai.prompt_cache_retentionanthropic.cache_controlgoogle.cache_controlgoogle.cached_content
cache_control for common cache hints and top-level prompt_cache_retention for OpenAI-compatible retention.
For provider prompt caching examples across Chat Completions, Responses, and Anthropic Messages, see Prompt Caching.
meta
Requests extra response metadata where supported.
Use this when you want additional non-core response metadata for debugging, analytics, or downstream inspection.
usage
Requests usage accounting details where supported.
This is useful when you want explicit token or usage accounting in the response body rather than only relying on headers or dashboards.
debug
Enables controlled request and routing diagnostics.
Supported debug fields include:
Debug payloads can contain sensitive request context. Use them only in development or tightly controlled environments.
Example request
Detailed explanations
If you want the deeper “how should I tune this?” guidance rather than the raw field reference, use these next:- Inference Parameters for practical advice on temperature, top_p, top_k, max token limits, stop sequences, and tuning workflow
- Sampling and Decoding for how randomness, penalties, and decoding controls change model behavior