---
name: external
description: Toggle and use external LLM mode (GPT-5.2, Gemini, etc.)
aliases: [llm, ext, external-llm]
---

# External LLM Mode

Route requests to external LLMs via opencode or gemini CLI.

## Usage

```
/external                   # Show current status
/external on [reason]       # Enable external mode
/external off               # Disable external mode
/external invoke <prompt>   # Send prompt to default model
/external invoke --model <model> <prompt>   # Send to specific model
/external invoke --task <task> <prompt>     # Route by task type
/external models            # List available models
```

## Implementation

### Status
```bash
~/.claude/mcp/llm-router/toggle.py status
```

### Toggle On/Off
```bash
~/.claude/mcp/llm-router/toggle.py on --reason "reason"
~/.claude/mcp/llm-router/toggle.py off
```

### Invoke
```bash
~/.claude/mcp/llm-router/invoke.py --model MODEL -p "prompt" [--json]
~/.claude/mcp/llm-router/invoke.py --task TASK -p "prompt" [--json]
```

## Available Models by Tier

### Frontier (strongest)
| Model | Provider | Best For |
|-------|----------|----------|
| `github-copilot/gpt-5.2` | opencode | reasoning, fallback |
| `github-copilot/gemini-3-pro-preview` | opencode | long context, reasoning |
| `gemini/gemini-2.5-pro` | gemini | long context, reasoning |

### Mid-tier (general purpose)
| Model | Provider | Best For |
|-------|----------|----------|
| `github-copilot/claude-sonnet-4.5` | opencode | general, fallback |
| `github-copilot/gemini-3-flash-preview` | opencode | fast |
| `zai-coding-plan/glm-4.7` | opencode | code generation |
| `opencode/big-pickle` | opencode | general |
| `gemini/gemini-2.5-flash` | gemini | fast |

### Lightweight (simple tasks)
| Model | Provider | Best For |
|-------|----------|----------|
| `github-copilot/claude-haiku-4.5` | opencode | simple tasks |

## Task Routing

| Task | Routes To | Tier |
|------|-----------|------|
| `reasoning` | github-copilot/gpt-5.2 | frontier |
| `code-generation` | github-copilot/gemini-3-pro-preview | frontier |
| `long-context` | gemini/gemini-2.5-pro | frontier |
| `fast` | github-copilot/gemini-3-flash-preview | mid-tier |
| `general` (default) | github-copilot/claude-sonnet-4.5 | mid-tier |

## State Files

- Mode state: `~/.claude/state/external-mode.json`
- Model policy: `~/.claude/state/model-policy.json`

## Examples

```
/external on testing        # Enable for testing
/external invoke "Explain k8s pods"   # Use default model (mid-tier)
/external invoke --model github-copilot/gpt-5.2 "Complex analysis"  # frontier
/external invoke --task code-generation "Write a Python function"   # routes to frontier
/external invoke --task fast "Quick question"                       # routes to mid-tier
/external off               # Back to Claude
```