List Models - Display Available AI Models

Queries providers and plugins to show every model you can use

The list_models tool shows all AI models available to bab, organized by source. It queries both the provider registry (configured AI providers) and plugin adapters (delegate plugins) in parallel, returning a unified view of what models are accessible.

Example Prompts 

"Use bab to list available models"

"What models does bab have access to?"

"Show me all configured providers and their models"

How It Works

  1. The tool queries two sources in parallel:
    • Provider registry — models from configured AI providers (Gemini, OpenAI, etc.)
    • Plugin adapters — models from delegate plugins that implement the optional listModels() method
  2. Results are merged and returned with metadata (counts, sources)
  3. No authentication is performed — the tool reads existing configuration

Key Features

  • Parallel querying — provider registry and plugin adapters are queried simultaneously
  • Two model sources — providers (API-key-gated) and plugins (adapter-based)
  • Configuration-aware — provider models only appear if the provider has a configured API key
  • Plugin discovery — surfaces models from adapters that implement the optional listModels() method
  • Metadata summary — returns total count, provider count, and plugin count
  • No authentication required — reads from existing config, no API calls made

Tool Parameters

This tool takes no parameters. Call it with an empty input.

Usage Examples

Quick Model Check:

"Use bab list_models to see what's available before picking a model for consensus"

Verify Provider Setup:

"List bab models to confirm my Gemini API key is working"

Discover Plugin Models:

"What models do my bab plugins expose?"

Output Information

Providers:

  • Models from configured AI providers (Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, custom endpoints)
  • Only shown when the provider’s API key is set

Plugins:

  • Models from delegate plugins that implement listModels()
  • Not all plugins expose models — only those with the optional method

Metadata:

  • count — total number of models across all sources
  • provider_count — number of provider-sourced models
  • plugin_count — number of plugin-sourced models

Best Practices

  • Check before selecting models — run list_models before using model overrides in other tools
  • Verify after configuration changes — confirm new API keys or plugins are picked up
  • Use for troubleshooting — if a model isn’t working, check whether it appears in the list
  • Understand the sources — provider models require API keys; plugin models require adapters with listModels()

When to Use vs Other Tools

  • Use list_models for: Seeing what models are available and which providers are configured
  • Use version for: Server health check, runtime information, and version details
  • Use chat for: Actually using a model for conversation or analysis
  • Use consensus for: Comparing outputs across multiple models