Getting Started

Install Conduit, enable provider traits, and run your first generation.

Overview

Conduit uses Swift package traits to control which providers are compiled. No traits are enabled by default, keeping the package lightweight and Linux-compatible.

Installation

Add Conduit to your Package.swift:

dependencies: [
    .package(url: "https://github.com/christopherkarani/Conduit", from: "0.3.0")
]

Then add "Conduit" to your target's dependencies:

.target(
    name: "MyApp",
    dependencies: ["Conduit"]
)

Enabling Provider Traits

Enable specific providers with traits:

// MLX for on-device inference (Apple Silicon only)
.package(url: "https://github.com/christopherkarani/Conduit", from: "0.3.0", traits: ["MLX"])

// Cloud providers
.package(
    url: "https://github.com/christopherkarani/Conduit",
    from: "0.3.0",
    traits: ["Anthropic", "OpenAI", "OpenRouter"]
)

// Multiple providers
.package(
    url: "https://github.com/christopherkarani/Conduit",
    from: "0.3.0",
    traits: ["MLX", "Anthropic", "OpenAI", "HuggingFaceHub"]
)

Trait Reference

Trait	Compile Flag	Providers Enabled
OpenAI	CONDUIT_TRAIT_OPENAI	OpenAIProvider (OpenAI, Ollama, Azure, custom)
OpenRouter	CONDUIT_TRAIT_OPENROUTER	OpenAIProvider (OpenRouter mode)
Anthropic	CONDUIT_TRAIT_ANTHROPIC	AnthropicProvider
Kimi	CONDUIT_TRAIT_KIMI	KimiProvider (requires OpenAI trait too)
MiniMax	CONDUIT_TRAIT_MINIMAX	MiniMaxProvider (requires OpenAI trait too)
MLX	CONDUIT_TRAIT_MLX	MLXProvider (Apple Silicon only)
CoreML	CONDUIT_TRAIT_COREML	CoreMLProvider
HuggingFaceHub	—	HuggingFace Hub downloads
Llama	Llama	LlamaProvider (llama.cpp via llama.swift)

API Keys

Cloud providers need API keys. Set them as environment variables:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api-03-...
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...
export MOONSHOT_API_KEY=sk-moonshot-...
export MINIMAX_API_KEY=...
export HF_TOKEN=hf_...

Most providers support .auto authentication that resolves keys from the environment automatically.

Quick Start — Cloud (Anthropic)

import Conduit

let provider = AnthropicProvider(apiKey: "sk-ant-...")
let response = try await provider.generate(
    "Explain quantum computing in one paragraph",
    model: .claudeSonnet45,
    config: .default.maxTokens(300)
)
print(response)

Quick Start — Local (MLX)

import Conduit

let provider = MLXProvider()
let response = try await provider.generate(
    "Explain quantum computing in one paragraph",
    model: .llama3_2_1b,
    config: .default.maxTokens(300)
)
print(response)

Quick Start — Streaming

import Conduit

let provider = AnthropicProvider(apiKey: "sk-ant-...")
for try await text in provider.stream("Tell me a joke", model: .claude35Sonnet) {
    print(text, terminator: "")
}

Building on Linux

Conduit supports Linux for server-side Swift. Build normally with Swift 6.2+:

swift build
swift test

No traits are enabled by default, so MLX and Foundation Models dependencies are excluded. Cloud providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, HuggingFace) work out of the box. For local inference on Linux, use Ollama via OpenAIProvider.

Next Steps

• Architecture — Understand the protocol hierarchy and design patterns
• Streaming — Real-time token streaming
• Structured Output — Type-safe LLM responses with @Generable
• Providers Overview — Choose the right provider for your use case