> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://respan.ai/docs/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://respan.ai/docs/_mcp/server.

# Hugging Face (gateway)

> Set up Hugging Face with the Respan gateway.

Route Hugging Face model calls through the Respan gateway after the Hugging Face model you want is available in your Respan model list. Your application uses the OpenAI-compatible Respan endpoint and only sends `RESPAN_API_KEY`; provider credentials are managed in Respan.

## Setup

#### Install packages

```bash
pip install openai
```

#### Set environment variables

```bash
export RESPAN_API_KEY="YOUR_RESPAN_API_KEY"
```

Configure the provider credentials required by your model in Respan. Once they are stored, no `HUGGINGFACE_API_KEY` is needed in application code. Check the exact model's billing label in the [model catalog](https://platform.respan.ai/platform/models); hosting a model on Hugging Face does not by itself make it available through Respan credits.

#### Point an OpenAI-compatible client to the Respan gateway

```python
import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ["RESPAN_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://api.respan.ai/api",
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="YOUR_HUGGINGFACE_MODEL_ID",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello in three languages."}],
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)
```

#### View your request

Open the [Spans page](https://platform.respan.ai/platform/requests) to inspect the gateway request, model, latency, token usage, cost, and response content.

## Switch models

Change the `model` parameter to use 1000+ models from different providers through the same gateway.

```python
response = client.chat.completions.create(model="YOUR_HUGGINGFACE_MODEL_ID", messages=messages)
response = client.chat.completions.create(model="openai/gpt-6-sol", messages=messages)
response = client.chat.completions.create(model="anthropic/claude-opus-5-5", messages=messages)
```

See the [full model list](https://platform.respan.ai/platform/models).