For all the providers, an API key is needed. Note that this is charged
separately from the subscription you might already have (e.g. Claude Pro).
If that might be a problem, consider using either a subscription provider
(see below) or using it externally via MCP.
Do note that most other LLM providers (e.g. OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral)
can still be used in Trilium via the OpenAI-compatible custom endpoint
(see below).
If you are using a proxy or gateway, you can also configure the base URL,
otherwise the default will be used.
Subscription-based providers
Some cloud providers offer a subscription, which has a fixed monthly fee
instead of pay-per-use (unlike the API keys). Trilium v0.104.0 introduces
beta support for Anthropic's Claude Pro/Max subscriptions. Other subscription-based
providers such as ChatGPT are on the roadmap, but not yet implemented.
To use a subscription:
First, Claude Code needs to be installed on the machine that runs Trilium.
So for a Desktop Installation,
Claude needs to be installed locally and for a Server Installation accessed via a browser,
Claude needs to be installed on the server.
Claude Code must already be authenticated. To do so, run claude in
a terminal once, type /login and follow the
instructions.
Go to Options → AI / LLM and
add the Claude Code provider.
Trilium will identify your Claude Code binary in this order:
By looking for a TRILIUM_CLAUDE_CODE_PATH environment
variable pointing to the Claude binary. This allows overriding the path
if needed.
By looking for claude in your PATH, generally
works in most circumstances.
After your provider is set up, you'll benefit from the same features as
an API key (note tools, web search, extended thinking, image/PDF attachments,
streaming).
Local/self-hosted providers
Local or self-hosted providers are a free alternative which respects your
privacy but requires specific hardware.
Trilium directly supports the following local providers:
Ollama
Generally Ollama runs in the background so it should be directly usable
in Trilium as long as the models are downloaded (e.g. ollama pull llama3.2).
LM Studio
The OpenAI-compatible server is disabled by default in
LM Studio installations. First download your desired models through the
graphical interface, then go to Settings → Developer and
toggle Developer mode. On the left there will be a new Developer tab,
with a toggle to start it up.
Even for local providers that are not directly supported by Trilium, you
can still use a custom endpoint (see below).
Custom endpoints
If your desired hosted (e.g. OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral) or local LLM provider
is not listed in Trilium, you can use the dedicated OpenAI-compatible provider
from the Custom endpoint section.
This allows you to set the base URL to an OpenAI-compatible API, with
an optional API key if required by the service.
For custom endpoints, the pricing of the models is not known so the cost
of a conversation will not be displayed; this is especially relevant for
hosted providers.