---
title: "AI Assistant Anthropic model provider | Nutrient"
canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/model-providers/anthropic-provider/"
md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/model-providers/anthropic-provider.md"
last_updated: "2026-06-08T13:19:19.265Z"
description: "Configure AI Assistant to use Anthropic’s Claude models for chat inference with advanced reasoning and safety capabilities."
---

# Anthropic model provider

Anthropic’s Claude family of large language models (LLMs) is known for advanced reasoning capabilities and built-in safety features. Use Anthropic as your model provider when you need Claude’s unique capabilities for document analysis and processing.

Anthropic doesn’t provide embedding models. Configure a different provider (OpenAI, Azure, or AWS Bedrock) for the model that uses the `default-embedding` label.

## Environment variables

Set the Anthropic API key in your Docker Compose file or command line.

- `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` — The API key for the Anthropic service. Create an API key in the [Anthropic Console](https://console.anthropic.com/):

```yaml

services:
  ai-assistant:
    environment:
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-api-key...

```

Refer to the [configuration options](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/docker-configuration.md) guide for all the configurable environment variables.

## Service configuration file

To use Anthropic with AI Assistant, create a service configuration file, as explained in the [model-provider configuration](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/ai-configuration.md) guide.

Since Anthropic doesn’t provide embedding models, you’ll need to configure a separate provider for embeddings. The following example uses OpenAI for embeddings:

```yaml

version: "2"

providers:
  - name: "anthropic"
    apiKey: "your-anthropic-api-key" # Optional if set via environment variable.

  - name: "openai"
    apiKey: "your-openai-api-key" # Optional if set via environment variable.

models:
  - model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
    labels: ["default-llm"]
  - model: "openai:text-embedding-3-small"
    labels: ["default-embedding"]

```

- **`providers`**:
  - **`name`** — The name of the provider. Set this to `anthropic`.
  - **`apiKey`** — The API key for the Anthropic service. This is optional if you’ve set `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` as an environment variable.

- **`models`**:
  - **`model`** — The model in `provider:model` format.
  - **`labels`** — Use `default-llm` for the Claude model and `default-embedding` for the embedding model.

## Recommended models

Anthropic offers several Claude models with different capabilities and pricing. Choose a model based on your performance and cost requirements:

| Model               | Description                          | Use case                           |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------- |
| `claude-haiku-4-5`  | Fast and cost-effective              | High-volume, simpler tasks         |
| `claude-sonnet-4-5` | Balanced model with strong reasoning | General document analysis and Q&A  |
| `claude-opus-4-5`   | Most capable model for complex tasks | Complex document workflows, slower |

For the most current model names and capabilities, see the [Anthropic model documentation](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/overview).

## Example configurations

Since Anthropic doesn’t provide embedding models, you’ll need to pair Anthropic’s chat models with embeddings from another provider.

### Anthropic chat with OpenAI embeddings

```yaml

version: "2"

providers:
  - name: "anthropic"
  - name: "openai"

models:
  - model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5"
    labels: ["default-llm"]
  - model: "openai:text-embedding-3-small"
    labels: ["default-embedding"]

```

### Anthropic chat with Azure OpenAI embeddings

```yaml

version: "2"

providers:
  - name: "anthropic"
  - name: "azure"
    instanceName: "your-azure-instance"

models:
  - model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5"
    labels: ["default-llm"]
  - model: "azure:your-embedding-deployment-name"
    labels: ["default-embedding"]

```

### Anthropic chat with AWS Bedrock embeddings

```yaml

version: "2"

providers:
  - name: "anthropic"
  - name: "bedrock"
    region: "us-west-2"

models:
  - model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5"
    labels: ["default-llm"]
  - model: "bedrock:amazon.titan-embed-text-v1"
    labels: ["default-embedding"]

```

## Pricing

Anthropic uses a pay-per-token pricing model. Costs vary based on the model selected and the volume of input and output tokens processed. For current pricing, refer to the [Anthropic pricing page](https://www.anthropic.com/pricing).
---

## Related pages

- [Azure model provider](/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/model-providers/azure-provider.md)
- [AWS Bedrock model provider](/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/model-providers/bedrock-provider.md)
- [OpenAI API-compatible provider](/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/model-providers/openai-api-compatible-providers.md)
- [OpenAI model provider](/guides/ai-assistant/service-configuration/model-providers/openai-provider.md)