Provider data and the live feed

Free-tier quotas and "is this provider still free" change every few weeks. Provider facts therefore live in one place and can be updated without releasing a new app version.

The data

src/data/providers.ts holds a ProviderInfo per provider: id, name, getKeyUrl, docsUrl, isFree, freeQuota, setupGuide, inVault, an optional reviewed month (YYYY-MM), status (active or retired), limits and api (base URL, environment variable and models). Three views are derived from it and shared across the app:

• the Rate-Limit Matrix (deriveRateLimits),
• the Config Exporter presets (derivePresets),
• the Key Vault provider list.

Components read them through useProviderData() (src/lib/ProviderDataContext.tsx). Without the provider (tests, the crash screen) the hook returns the built-in data and fetches nothing.

Verify before you commit a number

The data is typed in by hand and goes stale. When you change a quota, check the provider's own documentation and set reviewed to the current month. Model IDs and endpoints in the presets have not all been checked against live providers and may be out of date; fixes are welcome.

Updating the built-in data

1. Edit src/data/providers.ts. Edit quotas there and nowhere else.
2. Run pnpm feed:build. This regenerates feed/providers.json.
3. Run pnpm test. A test fails if the two files drift apart.
4. Open a pull request.

The live feed

The app can download feed/providers.json (or any file in the same format) and show it instead of the built-in data.

{ "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-10-07", "providers": [ { "...": "one ProviderInfo per entry" } ] }

To correct data without a release, edit the published copy (change freeQuota, or set "status": "retired"), bump updated, and every app that has the feed on picks it up within a day.

How it works

1. Download. src-tauri/src/feed.rs (fetch_feed) downloads the URL. It is HTTPS only (plain HTTP only to localhost, for trying a feed), allows no credentials in the URL, never follows a redirect off HTTPS, times out after 15 seconds and caps the size at 1 MB. It returns text, and errors are readable messages.
2. Validate. src/lib/feed.ts (parseProvidersFeed) checks every field. A bad row is skipped and counted ("N feed rows ignored"). A file with no usable row is rejected. Model IDs, URLs and environment variable names are checked strictly, because they end up in copy-paste shell commands. The feed cannot add a Key Vault provider that the app has no verification for.
3. Merge. mergeProviders takes the built-in rows as the base. A feed row with the same id replaces it, and new ids are appended. A row with "status": "retired" shows in the matrix as Retired and disappears from the exporter and the vault.
4. Cache. The last accepted download is kept in localStorage (localmind_feed_cache_v1) with its time and address, and is validated again on every read. A failed or invalid download keeps the last good data and shows the error. A cache from a different address is never used.
5. Refresh. On open, and then hourly while the app stays open, the app downloads only if the cache is missing or at least 24 hours old. The Refresh data button always downloads.

Privacy

Only the feed URL is requested, with a generic LocalMind user agent. No keys, tool lists or other data are sent. No address is set by default (DEFAULT_FEED_URL in src/lib/feed.ts is empty), so nothing is downloaded until an address is set in the code or in Settings. A user can switch the feed off, which also clears the cache.

Limits

• Only provider data is fed. Tools, bookmarks and other catalogs could follow the same pattern: a parse...Feed function, a merge, and the same cache and refresh.
• The matrix's "suggested fallback order" cards are static text and do not follow the feed.
• The feed is not signed.

Tests

src/lib/feed.test.ts covers validation, injection rejection, merge, staleness, the cache and the published file. ProviderDataContext.test.tsx covers the refresh button, failures keeping old data, retired providers and the Settings panel. The Rust tests cover the URL and size rules, and run fetch_feed against a local server.