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Getting Started Tutorial

End-to-End tutorial for LiteLLM Proxy to:

  • Add an Azure OpenAI model
  • Make a successful /chat/completion call
  • Generate a virtual key
  • Set RPM limit on virtual key

Quick Install (Recommended for local / beginners)​

New to LiteLLM? This is the easiest way to get started locally. One command installs LiteLLM and walks you through setup interactively — no config files to write by hand.

1. Install​

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BerriAI/litellm/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

This detects your OS, installs litellm[proxy], and drops you straight into the setup wizard.

2. Follow the wizard​

$ litellm --setup

  Welcome to LiteLLM

  Choose your LLM providers
  ○ 1. OpenAI        GPT-4o, GPT-4o-mini, o1
  ○ 2. Anthropic     Claude Opus, Sonnet, Haiku
  ○ 3. Azure OpenAI  GPT-4o via Azure
  ○ 4. Google Gemini Gemini 2.0 Flash, 1.5 Pro
  ○ 5. AWS Bedrock   Claude, Llama via AWS
  ○ 6. Ollama        Local models

  ❯ Provider(s): 1,2

  ❯ OpenAI API key: sk-...
  ❯ Anthropic API key: sk-ant-...

  ❯ Port [4000]:
  ❯ Master key [auto-generate]:

  ✔ Config saved → ./litellm_config.yaml

  ❯ Start the proxy now? (Y/n):

The wizard walks you through:

  1. Pick your LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, Bedrock, Gemini, Ollama)
  2. Enter API keys for each provider
  3. Set a port and master key (or accept the defaults)
  4. Config is saved to ./litellm_config.yaml and the proxy starts immediately

3. Make a call​

Your proxy is running on http://0.0.0.0:4000. Test it:

curl -X POST 'http://0.0.0.0:4000/chat/completions' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <your-master-key>' \
-d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
}'
Already have pip installed?

You can skip the curl install and run litellm --setup directly after pip install 'litellm[proxy]'.

Pre-Requisites​

Choose your install method. Docker Compose users complete their full setup inside the tab and are done. Docker and pip users continue with the steps below the tabs.

docker pull docker.litellm.ai/berriai/litellm:main-latest

See all docker images

Docker Compose users

Your setup is complete — the steps below are for Docker and pip users only.

Step 1 — Add a model​

Control LiteLLM Proxy with a config.yaml file. Create one with your Azure model:

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/my_azure_deployment
      api_base: os.environ/AZURE_API_BASE
      api_key: "os.environ/AZURE_API_KEY"
      api_version: "2025-01-01-preview" # [OPTIONAL] litellm uses the latest azure api_version by default

Model List Specification​

You can read more about how model resolution works in the Model Configuration section.

  • model_name (str) - This field should contain the name of the model as received.
  • litellm_params (dict) See All LiteLLM Params
    • model (str) - Specifies the model name to be sent to litellm.acompletion / litellm.aembedding, etc. This is the identifier used by LiteLLM to route to the correct model + provider logic on the backend.
    • api_key (str) - The API key required for authentication. It can be retrieved from an environment variable using os.environ/.
    • api_base (str) - The API base for your azure deployment.
    • api_version (str) - The API Version to use when calling Azure's OpenAI API. Get the latest Inference API version here.

2. Make a successful /chat/completion call​

LiteLLM Proxy is 100% OpenAI-compatible. Test your azure model via the /chat/completions route.

2.1 Start Proxy​

Save your config.yaml from step 1. as litellm_config.yaml.

docker run \
    -v $(pwd)/litellm_config.yaml:/app/config.yaml \
    -e AZURE_API_KEY=d6*********** \
    -e AZURE_API_BASE=https://openai-***********/ \
    -p 4000:4000 \
    docker.litellm.ai/berriai/litellm:main-latest \
    --config /app/config.yaml --detailed_debug

# RUNNING on http://0.0.0.0:4000

Confirm your config was loaded correctly — you should see this in the logs:

Loaded config YAML (api_key and environment_variables are not shown):
{
  "model_list": [
    {
      "model_name": ...

2.2 Make Call​

LiteLLM Proxy is 100% OpenAI-compatible. Test your model via /chat/completions:

curl -X POST 'http://0.0.0.0:4000/chat/completions' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer sk-1234' \
-d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "system",
        "content": "You are an LLM named gpt-4o"
      },
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": "what is your name?"
      }
    ]
}'

Expected Response

{
  "id": "chatcmpl-BcO8tRQmQV6Dfw6onqMufxPkLLkA8",
  "created": 1748488967,
  "model": "gpt-4o-2024-11-20",
  "object": "chat.completion",
  "system_fingerprint": "fp_ee1d74bde0",
  "choices": [
    {
      "finish_reason": "stop",
      "index": 0,
      "message": {
        "content": "My name is **gpt-4o**! How can I assist you today?",
        "role": "assistant",
        "tool_calls": null,
        "function_call": null,
        "annotations": []
      }
    }
  ],
  "usage": {
    "completion_tokens": 19,
    "prompt_tokens": 28,
    "total_tokens": 47,
    "completion_tokens_details": {
      "accepted_prediction_tokens": 0,
      "audio_tokens": 0,
      "reasoning_tokens": 0,
      "rejected_prediction_tokens": 0
    },
    "prompt_tokens_details": {
      "audio_tokens": 0,
      "cached_tokens": 0
    }
  },
  "service_tier": null,
  "prompt_filter_results": [
    {
      "prompt_index": 0,
      "content_filter_results": {
        "hate": {
          "filtered": false,
          "severity": "safe"
        },
        "self_harm": {
          "filtered": false,
          "severity": "safe"
        },
        "sexual": {
          "filtered": false,
          "severity": "safe"
        },
        "violence": {
          "filtered": false,
          "severity": "safe"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Optional: Generate a virtual key​

Track spend and control model access via virtual keys for the proxy.

Prerequisite — Set up a database​

Docker Compose users

Your Postgres container is already running — skip ahead to Create Key w/ RPM Limit below.

Docker / pip users — you need a Postgres database (e.g. Supabase, Neon, or self-hosted). Add general_settings to your config.yaml:

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/my_azure_deployment
      api_base: os.environ/AZURE_API_BASE
      api_key: "os.environ/AZURE_API_KEY"
      api_version: "2025-01-01-preview" # [OPTIONAL] litellm uses the latest azure api_version by default

general_settings: 
  master_key: sk-1234 
  database_url: "postgresql://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<dbname>" # 👈 KEY CHANGE

Save config.yaml as litellm_config.yaml before continuing.

You must finish this setup before starting the proxy server.

What is general_settings?

These are settings for the LiteLLM Proxy Server.

See All General Settings here.

  1. master_key (str)

    • Description:
      • Set a master key, this is your Proxy Admin key - you can use this to create other keys (🚨 must start with sk-).
    • Usage:
      • Set on config.yaml set your master key under general_settings:master_key, example - master_key: sk-1234
      • Set env variable set LITELLM_MASTER_KEY

  2. database_url (str)

    • Description:
      • Set a database_url, this is the connection to your Postgres DB, which is used by litellm for generating keys, users, teams.
    • Usage:
      • Set on config.yaml set your database_url under general_settings:database_url, example - database_url: "postgresql://..."
      • Set DATABASE_URL=postgresql://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<dbname> in your env

Start Proxy​

docker run \
    -v $(pwd)/litellm_config.yaml:/app/config.yaml \
    -e AZURE_API_KEY=d6*********** \
    -e AZURE_API_BASE=https://openai-***********/ \
    -p 4000:4000 \
    ghcr.io/berriai/litellm-database:main-latest \
    --config /app/config.yaml --detailed_debug

Create Key w/ RPM Limit​

Create a key with rpm_limit: 1. This will only allow 1 request per minute for calls to proxy with this key.

curl -L -X POST 'http://0.0.0.0:4000/key/generate' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer sk-1234' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
    "rpm_limit": 1
}'

See full API Spec

Expected Response

{
    "key": "sk-12..."
}

Test it!​

Use the virtual key you just created.

1st call - Expect to work!

curl -X POST 'http://0.0.0.0:4000/chat/completions' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer sk-12...' \
-d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "system",
        "content": "You are a helpful math tutor. Guide the user through the solution step by step."
      },
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": "how can I solve 8x + 7 = -23"
      }
    ]
}'

Expected Response

{
    "id": "chatcmpl-2076f062-3095-4052-a520-7c321c115c68",
    "choices": [
        ...
}

2nd call - Expect to fail!

Why did this call fail?

We set the virtual key's requests per minute (RPM) limit to 1. This has now been crossed.

curl -X POST 'http://0.0.0.0:4000/chat/completions' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer sk-12...' \
-d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "system",
        "content": "You are a helpful math tutor. Guide the user through the solution step by step."
      },
      {
        "role": "user",
        "content": "how can I solve 8x + 7 = -23"
      }
    ]
}'

Expected Response

{
  "error": {
    "message": "LiteLLM Rate Limit Handler for rate limit type = key. Crossed TPM / RPM / Max Parallel Request Limit. current rpm: 1, rpm limit: 1, current tpm: 348, tpm limit: 9223372036854775807, current max_parallel_requests: 0, max_parallel_requests: 9223372036854775807",
    "type": "None",
    "param": "None",
    "code": "429"
  }
}

Key Concepts​

This section explains key concepts on LiteLLM AI Gateway.

Understanding Model Configuration​

For this config.yaml example:

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/my_azure_deployment
      api_base: os.environ/AZURE_API_BASE
      api_key: "os.environ/AZURE_API_KEY"
      api_version: "2025-01-01-preview" # [OPTIONAL] litellm uses the latest azure api_version by default

How Model Resolution Works:

Client Request                LiteLLM Proxy                 Provider API
──────────────              ────────────────              ─────────────
    
POST /chat/completions      
{                           1. Looks up model_name
  "model": "gpt-4o" ──────────▶ in config.yaml
  ...                          
}                           2. Finds matching entry:
                               model_name: gpt-4o
                               
                            3. Extracts litellm_params:
                               model: azure/my_azure_deployment
                               api_base: https://...
                               api_key: sk-...
                               
                            4. Routes to provider ──▶ Azure OpenAI API
                                                      POST /deployments/my_azure_deployment/...

Breaking Down the model Parameter under litellm_params:

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o                       # What the client calls
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/my_azure_deployment       # <provider>/<model-name>
             ─────  ───────────────────
               │           │
               │           └─────▶ Model name sent to the provider API
               │
               └─────────────────▶ Provider that LiteLLM routes to

Visual Breakdown:

model: azure/my_azure_deployment
       └─┬─┘ └─────────┬─────────┘
         │             │
         │             └────▶ The actual model identifier that gets sent to Azure
         │                   (e.g., your deployment name, or the model name)
         │
         └──────────────────▶ Tells LiteLLM which provider to use
                             (azure, openai, anthropic, bedrock, etc.)

Key Concepts:

  • model_name: The alias your client uses to call the model. This is what you send in your API requests (e.g., gpt-4o).

  • model (in litellm_params): Format is <provider>/<model-identifier>

    • Provider (before /): Routes to the correct LLM provider (e.g., azure, openai, anthropic, bedrock)
    • Model identifier (after /): The actual model/deployment name sent to that provider's API

Advanced Configuration Examples:

For custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints (e.g., vLLM, Ollama, custom deployments):

model_list:
  - model_name: my-custom-model
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/nvidia/llama-3.2-nv-embedqa-1b-v2
      api_base: http://my-service.svc.cluster.local:8000/v1
      api_key: "sk-1234"

Breaking down complex model paths:

model: openai/nvidia/llama-3.2-nv-embedqa-1b-v2
       └─┬──┘ └────────────┬────────────────┘
         │                 │
         │                 └────▶ Full model string sent to the provider API
         │                       (in this case: "nvidia/llama-3.2-nv-embedqa-1b-v2")
         │
         └──────────────────────▶ Provider (openai = OpenAI-compatible API)

The key point: Everything after the first / is passed as-is to the provider's API.

Common Patterns:

model_list:
  # Azure deployment
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/gpt-4-deployment
      api_base: https://my-azure.openai.azure.com
      
  # OpenAI
  - model_name: gpt-4
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/gpt-4
      api_key: os.environ/OPENAI_API_KEY
      
  # Custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint
  - model_name: my-llama-model
    litellm_params:
      model: openai/meta/llama-3-8b
      api_base: http://my-vllm-server:8000/v1
      api_key: "optional-key"
      
  # Bedrock
  - model_name: claude-3
    litellm_params:
      model: bedrock/anthropic.claude-3-sonnet-20240229-v1:0
      aws_region_name: us-east-1

Troubleshooting​

prometheus.yml mount error — "not a directory"​

If you see:

Error: cannot create subdirectories in ".../prometheus.yml": not a directory

Docker created prometheus.yml as an empty directory instead of a file. This happens when the file is missing at docker compose up time.

Fix it: Then create the file (see Step 2.3 — Create prometheus.yml) and run docker compose up again.

rm -rf prometheus.yml

Then create the file (see Step 2.4) and run docker compose up again.

Non-root docker image?​

If you need to run the docker image as a non-root user, use this.

SSL Verification Issue / Connection Error.​

If you see

ssl.SSLCertVerificationError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: self-signed certificate in certificate chain (_ssl.c:1006)

OR

Connection Error.

You can disable ssl verification with:

model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o
    litellm_params:
      model: azure/my_azure_deployment
      api_base: os.environ/AZURE_API_BASE
      api_key: "os.environ/AZURE_API_KEY"
      api_version: "2025-01-01-preview"

litellm_settings:
    ssl_verify: false # 👈 KEY CHANGE

(DB) All connection attempts failed​

If you see:

httpx.ConnectError: All connection attempts failed                                                                        
                                                                                                                         
ERROR:    Application startup failed. Exiting.                                                                            
3:21:43 - LiteLLM Proxy:ERROR: utils.py:2207 - Error getting LiteLLM_SpendLogs row count: All connection attempts failed

This might be a DB permission issue.

  1. Validate db user permission issue

Try creating a new database.

STATEMENT: CREATE DATABASE "litellm"

If you get:

ERROR: permission denied to create

This indicates you have a permission issue.

  1. Grant permissions to your DB user

It should look something like this:

psql -U postgres
CREATE DATABASE litellm;

On CloudSQL, this is:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE litellm TO your_username;

What is litellm_settings?

LiteLLM Proxy uses the LiteLLM Python SDK for handling LLM API calls.

litellm_settings are module-level params for the LiteLLM Python SDK (equivalent to doing litellm.<some_param> on the SDK). You can see all params here

Support & Talk with founders​

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