Datum System

What This Skill Does

The b00t datum system provides declarative TOML-based configuration for AI models, providers, and other services. This skill helps you:

• Create and manage datum files (*.ai.toml, *.ai_model.toml)
• Load datums from Rust via PyO3 bindings (DRY)
• Validate environment variables required by datums
• Discover available models and providers
• Follow b00t pattern: datums specify WHICH env vars, .env contains VALUES

When It Activates

Activate this skill when you see phrases like:

• "create a datum for [model/provider]"
• "add [model] to the datum system"
• "configure [provider] in b00t"
• "check which environment variables are needed"
• "list available models"
• "validate provider configuration"
• "setup OpenRouter/HuggingFace/Groq/etc in datums"

Key Concepts

Datum Types

Provider Datums (~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/*.ai.toml):

• Define provider metadata (name, type, hint)
• List available models with capabilities and costs
• Specify required environment variables
• Set default configuration values

Model Datums (~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/*.ai_model.toml):

• Reference a provider
• Specify model-specific parameters
• Define capabilities and access groups
• Set rate limits and context windows

Environment Pattern

[env]
# Required: Must be present in .env file
required = ["PROVIDER_API_KEY"]

# Optional: Default values for non-secret configuration
defaults = { PROVIDER_API_BASE = "https://api.provider.com" }

NEVER store actual API keys in datums - only specify WHICH variables are needed. Actual values go in .env file, loaded via direnv.

Datum Structure

Provider Datum Example (openrouter.ai.toml)

[b00t]
name = "openrouter"
type = "ai"
hint = "OpenRouter multi-model gateway - access 200+ models via single API"

[models.qwen-2_5-72b-instruct]
capabilities = "text,chat,code,reasoning,multilingual"
context_length = 32768
cost_per_1k_input_tokens = 0.00035
cost_per_1k_output_tokens = 0.00040
max_tokens = 4096

[models.claude-3-5-sonnet]
capabilities = "text,chat,code,vision,reasoning"
context_length = 200000
cost_per_1k_input_tokens = 0.003
cost_per_1k_output_tokens = 0.015
max_tokens = 8192

[env]
required = ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"]
defaults = { OPENROUTER_API_BASE = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1" }

Model Datum Example (qwen-2.5-72b.ai_model.toml)

[b00t]
name = "qwen-2.5-72b"
type = "ai_model"
hint = "Alibaba's Qwen 2.5 72B - strong reasoning and multilingual capabilities"

[ai_model]
provider = "openrouter"
size = "large"
capabilities = ["chat", "code", "reasoning"]
litellm_model = "openrouter/qwen/qwen-2.5-72b-instruct"
api_base = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
api_key_env = "OPENROUTER_API_KEY"
rpm_limit = 60
context_window = 32768
enabled = true
access_groups = ["default"]

[ai_model.parameters]
max_tokens = 4096
temperature = 0.7

[ai_model.metadata]
family = "qwen-2.5"
provider_model_id = "qwen/qwen-2.5-72b-instruct"
cost_per_1k_input = 0.35
cost_per_1k_output = 0.40

Using Datums in Python (DRY Approach)

Via Pydantic-AI (Recommended)

from b00t_j0b_py import create_pydantic_agent

# Create agent from datum (validates env automatically)
agent = create_pydantic_agent(
    model_datum_name="qwen-2.5-72b",
    system_prompt="You are a helpful assistant"
)

result = await agent.run("What is the capital of France?")

Manual Validation via PyO3

import b00t_py

# Load datum from Rust (DRY - no Python duplication)
datum = b00t_py.load_ai_model_datum("qwen-2.5-72b", "~/.dotfiles/_b00t_")

# Validate environment
validation = b00t_py.check_provider_env("openrouter", "~/.dotfiles/_b00t_")
if not validation["available"]:
    print(f"Missing: {validation['missing_env_vars']}")

# List available providers and models
providers = b00t_py.list_ai_providers("~/.dotfiles/_b00t_")
models = b00t_py.list_ai_models("~/.dotfiles/_b00t_")

Workflow

Adding a New Provider

1. Create provider datum in ~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/provider.ai.toml
2. Add models with capabilities and costs
3. Specify env requirements (WHICH keys needed)
4. Update .env.example in b00t-j0b-py with commented key
5. Test validation via PyO3 bindings

Adding a New Model

1. Create model datum in ~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/model-name.ai_model.toml
2. Reference provider and specify litellm_model string
3. Set capabilities and access groups
4. Define parameters (temperature, max_tokens, etc.)
5. Add metadata (costs, family, etc.)

Validating Configuration

# Via Python
python3 -c "import b00t_py; print(b00t_py.list_ai_providers('~/.dotfiles/_b00t_'))"

# Check specific provider
python3 -c "import b00t_py; print(b00t_py.check_provider_env('openrouter', '~/.dotfiles/_b00t_'))"

DRY Philosophy

ALWAYS:

• ✅ Use PyO3 bindings to access Rust datum parsing
• ✅ Store configuration in TOML datums
• ✅ Specify WHICH env vars are required in datums
• ✅ Store actual API key VALUES in .env (loaded via direnv)

NEVER:

• ❌ Duplicate datum parsing logic in Python
• ❌ Store API keys or secrets in datum files
• ❌ Hard-code model configurations in Python
• ❌ Create provider-specific Python classes (use datums instead)

File Locations

• Datums: ~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/*.ai.toml and ~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/*.ai_model.toml
• PyO3 bindings: b00t-py/src/lib.rs (Rust functions exposed to Python)
• Python integration: b00t-j0b-py/src/b00t_j0b_py/pydantic_ai_integration.py
• Environment values: .env (gitignored, loaded via direnv)
• Environment template: b00t-j0b-py/.env.example

Examples

Create OpenRouter Provider Datum

[b00t]
name = "openrouter"
type = "ai"
hint = "OpenRouter multi-model gateway"

[models.qwen-2_5-72b-instruct]
capabilities = "text,chat,code"
cost_per_1k_input_tokens = 0.00035

[env]
required = ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"]
defaults = { OPENROUTER_API_BASE = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1" }

Create Model Datum

[b00t]
name = "my-model"
type = "ai_model"

[ai_model]
provider = "openrouter"
litellm_model = "openrouter/qwen/qwen-2.5-72b-instruct"
api_key_env = "OPENROUTER_API_KEY"

Troubleshooting

"Missing environment variable"

• Check .env file has the key
• Run direnv allow to load environment
• Verify datum specifies correct key name in env.required

"Provider not found"

• Ensure ~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/provider.ai.toml exists
• Check file has correct [b00t] section with type = "ai"

"Model not found"

• Verify ~/.dotfiles/_b00t_/model.ai_model.toml exists
• Check [ai_model] section has provider field matching existing provider datum

Related Skills

• direnv-pattern: Setting up .env and .envrc files
• dry-philosophy: Avoiding code duplication via PyO3
• justfile-usage: Adding datum commands to justfile

References

• docs/ENVIRONMENT_SETUP.md - Environment variable pattern
• docs/PYDANTIC_AI_ANALYSIS.md - Pydantic-AI integration
• b00t-c0re-lib/src/datum_ai_model.rs - Rust datum implementation
• b00t-py/src/lib.rs - PyO3 bindings