Tiers

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Overview

A tier is a named group of models that builders pick instead of a raw model id, for example Expert or Everyday. Each tier has:

• A name, an emoji and a short description. Builders see these when they pick a model.
• A main model, tried first.
• Up to 4 fallbacks, tried in order when the main model can’t serve a request. Fallbacks can come from different keys and providers.
• A thinking budget: Default, Off, Low (5,000 tokens), Medium (10,000 tokens) or High (20,000 tokens). Only models that support reasoning use it.

Tiers show up in the model picker for chat, agents, Run Agent steps and AI text steps. When you swap the model behind a tier, every flow and agent that uses the tier moves with it. Nothing needs to be edited. Go to Platform admin → AI Center → Tiers.

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Create a tier

Models whose key is Active are tried first, in tier order. A model whose key is marked Out of credits, Key rejected or Unreachable moves behind them, so an active fallback can serve a request before the main model is retried. Within that order, the next model is used when the one before it fails at the provider, for example a rate limit, an outage, an expired key or no credits left. Without a fallback, the tier fails when its main model is unavailable. To change a model, use the … menu on its row: Change main model, Move up, Move down or Remove.

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Default and fast tiers

Use the … menu on a tier card:

• Make default: the tier builders get when they haven’t picked a model. It is marked Default.
• Use as fast model: chat and agent runs use this tier for quick, light steps. It is marked Fast.

The default tier is not the same as the Default chat model. New chats start on the Default chat model, and use the default tier only when that model can’t run.

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Reorder and edit

The order of the cards is the order builders see. Use Move up and Move down in a tier’s … menu to change it. Use Edit to change the name, emoji, description or thinking. To change the main model, use Change main model in the model row’s … menu.

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Delete a tier

Click Delete in the tier’s … menu, then pick a tier under Move them to. Everything that used the deleted tier now runs on the tier you picked. If the deleted tier was the default or the fast tier, the tier you picked takes that role. You can delete your last tier without picking a replacement. Anything still using it stops working until someone picks a new model. If you had hidden specific models, they are shown to builders again, so builders still have something to pick.

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Tiers follow key project access

Each key can be limited to some projects (see Access). Tiers respect that:

• A tier is offered in a project only when its main model’s key serves that project.
• A fallback whose key doesn’t serve a project is skipped there.

The tier card warns you when this happens, for example “Not available in 1 project” or “Fallback … is skipped in 2 projects”. To check one project, pick it in the Preview as project list at the top of the page. This list shows up when at least one key is limited to some projects. A key that a tier uses can’t be deleted, and you can’t remove a tier’s model from that key’s model list. Change the tier first.

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Specific models

Below the tiers, Specific models lists the models on your keys that are not a tier’s main model. Builders can pick these directly. Click Make a tier on a model to start a tier from it. Use the Visible / Hidden switch to choose what builders see:

• Visible: builders can pick tiers and specific models.
• Hidden: builders only see tiers. You need at least one tier first.

Hiding specific models only changes the picker. Flows and agents that already use a specific model keep running.

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Related

• Providers and keys
• API reference: list tiers, create, reorder, update, delete.