SAP AI Core, and Generative AI Hub, are offerings from SAP BTP. You need an active SAP BTP contract and a existing subaccount with a SAP AI Core instance with the
extended
service plan (For more details about SAP AI Core service plans and their capabilities, see the Service Plans documentation) to perform these steps.Getting a Service Binding
- Access: Go to your subaccount via BTP Cloud Cockpit
- Create a Service Binding: Go to “Instances and Subscriptions”, select your SAP AI Core service instance and click on Service Bindings > Create.
- Copy the Service Binding: Copy the service binding values.
Supported Models
SAP AI Core supports a large and growing number of models. Refer to the Generative AI Hub Supported Models page for the complete and up-to-date list.Configuration in Cline
- Open Cline Settings: Click the settings icon (⚙️) in the Cline panel.
- Select Provider: Choose “SAP AI Core” from the “API Provider” dropdown.
- Enter Client Id: Add the
.clientid
field from the service binding into the “AI Core Client Id” field. - Enter Client Secret: Add the
.clientsecret
field from the service binding into the “AI Core Client Secret” field. - Enter Base URL: Add the
.serviceurls.AI_API_URL
field from the service binding into the “AI Core Base URL” field. - Enter Auth URL: Add the
.url
field from the service binding into the “AI Core Auth URL” field. - Enter Resource Group: Add the resource group where you have your model deployments. See Create a Deployment for a Generative AI Model.
- Configure Orchestration Mode: If you have an
extended
service plan, the “Orchestration Mode” checkbox will automatically appear. - Select Model: Choose your desired model from the “Model” dropdown.
Orchestration Mode vs Native API
Orchestration Mode:- Simplified usage: Provides access to all available models without requiring individual deployments using the Harmonized API
- Manual deployments: Requires manual model deployment and management in your SAP AI Core service instance
Tips and Notes
-
Service Plan Requirement: You must have the SAP AI Core
extended
service plan to use LLMs with Cline. Other service plans do not provide access to Generative AI Hub. - Orchestration Mode (Recommended): Keep Orchestration Mode enabled for the simplest setup. It provides automatic access to all available models without requiring manual deployments.
- Native API Mode: Only disable Orchestration Mode if you have specific requirements that necessitate direct AI Core API access or need features not supported by the orchestration mode.
-
When using Native API Mode:
- Model Selection: The model dropdown displays models in two separate lists:
- Deployed Models: These models are already deployed in your specified resource group and are ready to use immediately.
- Not Deployed Models: These models don’t have active deployments in your specified resource group. You won’t be able to use these models until you create deployments for them in SAP AI Core.
- Creating Deployments: To use a model that has not been deployed yet, you’ll need to create a deployment in your SAP AI Core service instance. See Create a Deployment for a Generative AI Model for instructions.
- Model Selection: The model dropdown displays models in two separate lists:
Configuring Reasoning Effort for OpenAI Models
When using OpenAI reasoning models (such as o1, o3, o3-mini, o4-mini) through SAP AI Core, you can control the reasoning effort to balance performance and cost:- Open Cline Settings: Click the settings icon (⚙️) in the Cline panel.
- Navigate to Features: Go to the “Features” section in the settings.
- Find OpenAI Reasoning Effort: Locate the “OpenAI Reasoning Effort” setting.
- Choose Effort Level: Select between:
- Low: Faster responses with lower token usage, suitable for simpler tasks
- Medium: Balanced performance and token usage for most tasks
- High: More thorough analysis with higher token usage, better for complex reasoning tasks
This setting only applies when using OpenAI reasoning models (o1, o3, o3-mini, o4-mini, gpt-5, etc.) deployed through SAP AI Core. Other models will ignore this setting.