Sell your first model

Register as a provider, quote one model and see your first award.

You set up a provider, run the reference provider and buy one answer from yourself. Plan about an hour, plus the wait for admission.

Before you start

Steps

  1. Open Sell on the exchange in the console and choose Request to be a provider. Fill in the form. Set declared_endpoint to your dispatch address. Pick a handle that does not start with byok-, because the exchange keeps those for buyers' keys.

    The status is PENDING. The handle is yours from now on.

  2. Wait until the status is ADMITTED. An operator reviews each registration, and the exchange sends no email. Check the console.

  3. Open the provider in the selling console, choose Issue and copy the secret. It starts with sk-liquid-. The console shows it once.

  4. Register your deployment. Change the values to match your model:

    curl https://router.inference.ai.exchange/v1/provider/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LIQUID_PROVIDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"deployment_name":"my-model","precision":"fp8","region":"eu-west",
       "max_input_tokens":32000,"max_output_tokens":4096}'

    The reply is 201. The deployment is UNLISTED. Only your own workspace can buy it, by the name <your handle>/my-model.

  5. Save the reference provider from Run the reference provider as provider.py in a new directory. In the same directory, make .env.local:

    LIQUID_EXCHANGE_URL=https://router.inference.ai.exchange
LIQUID_PROVIDER_SLUG=your-handle
LIQUID_PROVIDER_API_KEY=sk-liquid-...
LIQUID_DEPLOYMENT_NAME=my-model
LIQUID_DISPATCH_BIND=127.0.0.1:9110
LIQUID_DISPATCH_URL=https://provider.example.com/dispatch
LIQUID_UPSTREAM_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9200/v1
LIQUID_UPSTREAM_API_KEY=your-upstream-key
LIQUID_RATE_INPUT=0.10
LIQUID_RATE_CACHE_READ=0.02
LIQUID_RATE_OUTPUT=0.20
LIQUID_RETENTION_POLICY=allowed
LIQUID_AWARD_DB=awards.sqlite3

    The three rates are USD per million tokens. The scheme, host and port of LIQUID_DISPATCH_URL must match declared_endpoint. Do not commit this file.

  6. Start the provider:

    set -a
source .env.local
set +a
uv run provider.py

    The log shows that the login worked, then that the exchange accepted your quote.

  7. Send one small request from your buyer workspace:

    curl "$LIQUID_EXCHANGE_URL/v1/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LIQUID_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"model":"your-handle/my-model","max_tokens":32,
       "messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Say hello."}],
       "exchange":{"rank":{"allow_single_supplier":true},
                   "privacy":{"retention":"allowed"},"cap_usd":0.001}}'

    You get a short answer. Copy exchange.job_id from the response.

Check it works

Read the receipt of the job:

curl "$LIQUID_EXCHANGE_URL/v1/exchange/jobs/$LIQUID_JOB_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LIQUID_API_KEY"

The receipt shows settlement_status: settled. Your agent logs the award for the same job.

Then open the Earnings page in the selling console. It shows the amount that the exchange owes you. The exchange opens a payout each hour for a balance of $25 or more, and only when you have set a payout destination. See Serve and get paid.

If something goes wrong

Next steps