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Architecture, engineering, and operational intelligence for production LLM systems.

A model's capability list is not a capability test
Aug 11, 2026 · 5 min

A model's capability list is not a capability test

I probed 70 models with a real tool call. 25 advertised tool support and failed. Here is what that costs an agent loop, and the boring fix.

A prompt should be an object, not a paste buffer
Jul 26, 2026 · 6 min

A prompt should be an object, not a paste buffer

A saved prompt in the SpiderGate Studio bundles the system prompt, model, settings and reference media under one name — reloadable in a click, callable from an agent by that name, and expanded server-side. Around it sits a workbench: projects that keep your conversations and generations, Fork and Merge across several models at once, and a trace on every run.

Contribute an API key without ever showing it to me
Jul 18, 2026 · 4 min

Contribute an API key without ever showing it to me

A teammate has the Groq account, a client holds the OpenRouter billing, and nobody wants to paste a live secret into a chat window. The SpiderGate Vault takes a contributed key through an invite link, encrypts it, and shows me only a masked preview — while a shared pool with round-robin failover keeps requests flowing when one key rate-limits or dies.

1,216 models, and an agent that keeps the catalog honest
Jul 18, 2026 · 3 min

1,216 models, and an agent that keeps the catalog honest

The SpiderGate catalog tracks 1,216 models across 16 providers, and an agent refreshes the facts every day. 221 of them are scored across nine capability categories as a within-category percentile — with the benchmarks behind every score, and the coverage stated plainly.

Your password manager can't tell you what that key is spending
Jul 18, 2026 · 5 min

Your password manager can't tell you what that key is spending

A credential store holds the key and stops there. SpiderGate splits a provider key into three axes — how it arrived, how it bills, and which package it is on — so a flat-monthly coding plan meters against its own rolling window instead of a dollar figure that means nothing.

Stop keeping a second vendor just for pictures and speech
Jul 13, 2026 · 6 min

Stop keeping a second vendor just for pictures and speech

SpiderGate now takes images, video, speech, transcription and embeddings on the same Bearer token as chat. 33 of the 81 media models in the catalogue are active today, each publishing the exact parameters it accepts so an agent never has to guess.

A dead key shouldn't wait for you to notice
Jun 26, 2026 · 6 min

A dead key shouldn't wait for you to notice

A pooled provider key that dies doesn't stop your agents — it quietly degrades them to a fallback while nobody gets paged. Here's how I made SpiderGate pull a failing key out of rotation by itself, tell apart a bad minute from a dead credential, and email the one person who can actually fix it.

How AI Automation Agencies Save Money with SpiderGate BYOK
Jun 03, 2026 · 2 min

How AI Automation Agencies Save Money with SpiderGate BYOK

Discover how shifting to a BYOK model with SpiderGate can eliminate inference overhead and maximize profit margins for your AI agency.

May 08, 2026 · 1 min

Evaluating Gateway Latency Overhead

Adding a hop in your LLM request path adds latency. But how much? We dive into the benchmarks.

May 08, 2026 · 1 min

Securing LLM API Keys at the Edge

Shipping API keys to the client is a disaster. Explore why you need a gateway to secure your LLM API keys at the edge.

Streaming vs. Batch: Choosing the Right LLM Delivery Mode for Your Agents
May 07, 2026 · 2 min

Streaming vs. Batch: Choosing the Right LLM Delivery Mode for Your Agents

Not every agent needs real-time streaming. SpiderGate's delivery mode system lets you choose between streaming, batch, and hybrid modes per agent — optimizing for cost, latency, or throughput.

Multi-Tenant Isolation: Running 50 Teams Through One Gateway Safely
May 07, 2026 · 2 min

Multi-Tenant Isolation: Running 50 Teams Through One Gateway Safely

When every team shares the same LLM gateway, data leakage isn't just a risk — it's an inevitability without proper isolation. Here's how SpiderGate enforces tenant boundaries at every layer.

Prompt Caching at Scale: How SpiderGate Reduces Redundant LLM Calls by 40%
May 07, 2026 · 2 min

Prompt Caching at Scale: How SpiderGate Reduces Redundant LLM Calls by 40%

Your agents are asking the same questions hundreds of times per hour. SpiderGate's semantic prompt cache detects near-duplicate requests and serves cached responses, cutting costs and latency simultaneously.

Rate Limiting for AI Agents: Why Token Buckets Beat Simple Throttling
May 07, 2026 · 2 min

Rate Limiting for AI Agents: Why Token Buckets Beat Simple Throttling

Simple rate limiting kills agent performance. SpiderGate's adaptive token bucket algorithm balances throughput with fair resource allocation across hundreds of concurrent agents.

Fallback Chains: Designing Resilient Multi-Provider LLM Pipelines
May 07, 2026 · 2 min

Fallback Chains: Designing Resilient Multi-Provider LLM Pipelines

When your primary LLM provider goes down at 3 AM, your agents shouldn't stop working. SpiderGate's fallback chain system automatically routes to backup providers with zero application changes.

Budget Guardrails: How SpiderGate Prevents LLM Cost Overruns
May 07, 2026 · 2 min

Budget Guardrails: How SpiderGate Prevents LLM Cost Overruns

One misconfigured agent can drain your entire monthly LLM budget in hours. SpiderGate's budget guardrail system enforces per-agent, per-model, and per-team spending limits in real time.

Your bill is per key. Your question is per agent.
May 04, 2026 · 5 min

Your bill is per key. Your question is per agent.

Your provider bills you per API key. On a shared pool that tells you nothing about which agent spent it. Here is how SpiderGate's Traces view answers the question in the shape people actually ask it, plus the pool number I measured wrong the first time.

Why Your AI Agents Need a Unified LLM Gateway
May 04, 2026 · 2 min

Why Your AI Agents Need a Unified LLM Gateway

Running multiple LLM providers without a gateway is like operating a fleet with no dispatch. Here's how SpiderGate V2 unifies access, enforces budgets, and gives every agent a single endpoint.

Ask a client for their API key — without giving them a login
Apr 10, 2026 · 5 min

Ask a client for their API key — without giving them a login

An agency needs its client's provider capacity, not their password. Invite Contributor collects one key through a signed link — no account, no dashboard seat, and the key is validated before it is stored.

Your agents shouldn't know which model they're using
Mar 25, 2026 · 4 min

Your agents shouldn't know which model they're using

Naming a model id in an agent writes a provider's product decisions into your source. SpiderGate takes the name of the job instead: 32 task aliases over 91 ranked fallback slots. While writing this I found my own docs said 26.