Direct API access
Use OpenAI-Compatible APIs on iPhone and Mac
Cumbersome connects to OpenAI-compatible APIs without sending your requests through a Folding Sky server. Add the provider URL, primary authentication method, any extra authentication headers, request format, and model list. The provider's models then appear beside your built-in connections.
Connect the API you actually want to use
The built-in setup covers OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI Studio, Z.ai, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway. A custom connection handles many other services that expose a compatible chat or responses endpoint. It also works with reachable local servers such as LM Studio and Ollama.
Cumbersome stores the primary API secret and every additional secret header value separately in Apple Keychain. Header names stay in the provider configuration. Folding Sky runs neither a request proxy nor a conversation database for these connections.
- 1Choose Chat Completions or Responses.
- 2Enter the base URL and endpoint from the provider documentation.
- 3Choose bearer, API-key, custom-header, or no primary authentication.
- 4Add any extra authentication headers required by your provider or gateway. Cumbersome saves each value in Keychain.
- 5Fetch the model list when supported, or enter model identifiers yourself.
See what was sent
Message Details shows which provider and model answered, token and cache counts for the response, cumulative API tokens across the conversation, response timing, finish reason, and a safe copy of the request parameters. Open the ellipsis menu on an AI response, choose Message Details, then expand Request Parameters. Cumbersome leaves out message content, system instructions, tool definitions, and attachments, and it redacts credentials.
What to know before you use it
- OpenAI-compatible is not a complete standard. Some providers accept different fields or return different streaming events.
- A local endpoint must be reachable from the device running Cumbersome. Network and firewall settings still apply.
- The provider you connect receives the requests you send to it and applies its own retention and billing policies.