SAP Generative AI Hub

LiteLLM supports SAP Generative AI Hub's Orchestration Service.

Property	Details
Description	SAP's Generative AI Hub provides access to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral, NVIDIA, Amazon, and SAP LLMs through the AI Core orchestration service.
Provider Route on LiteLLM	sap/
Supported Endpoints	/chat/completions, /embeddings
API Reference	SAP AI Core Documentation

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

1. SAP BTP Account with access to SAP AI Core
2. AI Core Service Instance provisioned in your subaccount
3. Service Key created for your AI Core instance (this contains your credentials)
4. Resource Group with deployed AI models (check with your SAP administrator)

Where to Find Your Credentials

Your credentials come from the Service Key you create in SAP BTP Cockpit:

1. Navigate to your Subaccount → Instances and Subscriptions
2. Find your AI Core instance and click on it
3. Go to Service Keys and create one (or use existing)
4. The JSON contains all values needed below

The service key JSON looks like this:

{
  "clientid": "sb-abc123...",
  "clientsecret": "xyz789...",
  "url": "https://myinstance.authentication.eu10.hana.ondemand.com",
  "serviceurls": {
    "AI_API_URL": "https://api.ai.prod.eu-central-1.aws.ml.hana.ondemand.com"
  }
}

Resource Group

The resource group is typically configured separately in your AI Core deployment, not in the service key itself. You can set it via the AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP environment variable (defaults to "default").

Quick Start

Step 1: Install LiteLLM

uv add litellm

Step 2: Set Your Credentials

Choose one of these authentication methods:

Breaking change: credential resolution is "first-source-wins"

Credential resolution no longer merges individual fields across sources.

Resolution order is: kwargs → service key → env (AICORE_*) → config → VCAP service

Important behavior: once LiteLLM finds any credential value in a source, it takes all credentials from that source exclusively (except resource_group, which may still be resolved separately).

Service Key JSON (Recommended)

The simplest approach - paste your entire service key as a single environment variable.

Note: the service key no more needs to be wrapped in a "credentials" key.

export AICORE_SERVICE_KEY='{
    "clientid": "your-client-id",
    "clientsecret": "your-client-secret",
    "url": "https://<your-instance>.authentication.sap.hana.ondemand.com",
    "serviceurls": {
      "AI_API_URL": "https://api.ai.<your-region>.aws.ml.hana.ondemand.com"
    }
}'
export AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP="default"

Individual Variables

Alternatively, instead of using the service key above, you could set each credential separately:

export AICORE_AUTH_URL="https://<your-instance>.authentication.sap.hana.ondemand.com/oauth/token"
export AICORE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"
export AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP="default"
export AICORE_BASE_URL="https://api.ai.<your-region>.aws.ml.hana.ondemand.com/v2"

Step 3: Make Your First Request

test_sap.py

from litellm import completion

response = completion(
    model="sap/gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello from LiteLLM!"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Run it:

python test_sap.py

Expected output:

Hello! How can I assist you today?

Step 4: Verify Your Setup (Optional)

Test that everything is working with this diagnostic script:

verify_sap_setup.py

import os
import litellm

# Enable debug logging to see what's happening
import os
os.environ["LITELLM_LOG"] = "DEBUG"

# Either use AICORE_SERVICE_KEY (contains all credentials including resourcegroup)
# OR use individual variables (all required together)
individual_vars = ["AICORE_AUTH_URL", "AICORE_CLIENT_ID", "AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET", "AICORE_BASE_URL", "AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP"]

print("=== SAP Gen AI Hub Setup Verification ===\n")

# Check for service key method
if os.environ.get("AICORE_SERVICE_KEY"):
    print("✓ Using AICORE_SERVICE_KEY authentication (includes resource group)")
else:
    # Check individual variables
    missing = [v for v in individual_vars if not os.environ.get(v)]
    if missing:
        print(f"✗ Missing environment variables: {missing}")
    else:
        print("✓ Using individual variable authentication")
        print(f"✓ Resource group: {os.environ.get('AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP')}")

# Test API connection
print("\n=== Testing API Connection ===\n")
try:
    response = litellm.completion(
        model="sap/gpt-4o",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say 'Connection successful!' and nothing else."}],
        max_tokens=20
    )
    print(f"✓ API Response: {response.choices[0].message.content}")
    print("\n🎉 Setup complete! You're ready to use SAP Gen AI Hub with LiteLLM.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"✗ API Error: {e}")
    print("\nTroubleshooting tips:")
    print("  1. Verify your service key credentials are correct")
    print("  2. Check that 'gpt-4o' is deployed in your resource group")
    print("  3. Ensure your SAP AI Core instance is running")

Run the verification:

python verify_sap_setup.py

Expected output on success:

=== SAP Gen AI Hub Setup Verification ===

✓ Using AICORE_SERVICE_KEY authentication
✓ Resource group: default

=== Testing API Connection ===

✓ API Response: Connection successful!

🎉 Setup complete! You're ready to use SAP Gen AI Hub with LiteLLM.

Authentication

SAP Generative AI Hub uses OAuth2 service keys for authentication. See Quick Start for setup instructions.

Environment Variables Reference

Variable	Required	Description
AICORE_SERVICE_KEY	Yes*	Complete service key JSON (recommended method)
AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP	Yes	Your AI Core resource group name
AICORE_AUTH_URL	Yes*	OAuth token URL (alternative to service key)
AICORE_CLIENT_ID	Yes*	OAuth client ID (alternative to service key)
AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET	Yes*	OAuth client secret (alternative to service key)
AICORE_BASE_URL	Yes*	AI Core API base URL (alternative to service key)

*Choose either AICORE_SERVICE_KEY OR the individual variables (AICORE_AUTH_URL, AICORE_CLIENT_ID, AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET, AICORE_BASE_URL).

Model Naming Conventions

Understanding model naming is crucial for using SAP Gen AI Hub correctly. The naming pattern differs depending on whether you're using the SDK directly or through the proxy.

Direct SDK Usage

When calling LiteLLM's SDK directly, you must include the sap/ prefix in the model name:

# Correct - includes sap/ prefix
model="sap/gpt-4o"
model="sap/anthropic--claude-4.5-sonnet"
model="sap/gemini-2.5-pro"

# Incorrect - missing prefix
model="gpt-4o"  # ❌ Won't work

3. Environment variables - Set the following list of credentials in .env file

AICORE_AUTH_URL = "https://* * * .authentication.sap.hana.ondemand.com/oauth/token",
AICORE_CLIENT_ID  = " *** ",
AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET = " *** ",
AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP = " *** ",
AICORE_BASE_URL = "https://api.ai.***.cfapps.sap.hana.ondemand.com/v2"

Other credential configuration options are also available. For more information, see the SAP AI Core Documentation.

Usage - LiteLLM Python SDK

Proxy Usage

When using the LiteLLM Proxy, you use the friendly model_name defined in your configuration. The proxy automatically handles the sap/ prefix routing.

# In config.yaml, define the mapping
model_list:
  - model_name: gpt-4o          # ← Use this name in client requests
    litellm_params:
      model: sap/gpt-4o         # ← Proxy handles the sap/ prefix

# Client request - no sap/ prefix needed
client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",  # ✓ Correct for proxy usage
    messages=[...]
)

Anthropic Models Special Syntax

Anthropic models use a double-dash (--) prefix convention:

Provider	Model Example	LiteLLM Format
OpenAI	GPT-4o	sap/gpt-4o
Anthropic	Claude 4.5 Sonnet	sap/anthropic--claude-4.5-sonnet
Google	Gemini 2.5 Pro	sap/gemini-2.5-pro
Mistral	Mistral Large	sap/mistral-large

Quick Reference Table

Usage Type	Model Format	Example
Direct SDK	sap/<model-name>	sap/gpt-4o
Direct SDK (Anthropic)	sap/anthropic--<model>	sap/anthropic--claude-4.5-sonnet
Proxy Client	<friendly-name>	gpt-4o or claude-sonnet

Using the Python SDK

The LiteLLM Python SDK automatically detects your authentication method. Simply set your environment variables and make requests.

Basic Completion

from litellm import completion

# Assumes AICORE_AUTH_URL, AICORE_CLIENT_ID, etc. are set
response = completion(
    model="sap/anthropic--claude-4.5-sonnet",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Both authentication methods (individual variables or service key JSON) work automatically - no code changes required.

Using the Proxy Server

The LiteLLM Proxy provides a unified OpenAI-compatible API for your SAP models.

Configuration

Create a config.yaml file in your project directory with your model mappings and credentials:

config.yaml

model_list:
  # OpenAI models
  - model_name: gpt-5
    litellm_params:
      model: sap/gpt-5

  # Anthropic models (note the double-dash)
  - model_name: claude-sonnet
    litellm_params:
      model: sap/anthropic--claude-4.5-sonnet

  - model_name: claude-opus
    litellm_params:
      model: sap/anthropic--claude-4.5-opus

  # Embeddings
  - model_name: text-embedding-3-small
    litellm_params:
      model: sap/text-embedding-3-small

litellm_settings:
  drop_params: true
  set_verbose: false
  request_timeout: 600
  num_retries: 2
  forward_client_headers_to_llm_api: ["anthropic-version"]

general_settings:
  master_key: "sk-1234" # Enter here your desired master key starting with 'sk-'.
  
  # UI Admin is not required but helpful including the management of keys for your team(s). If you are using a database, these parameters are required:
  database_url: "Enter you database URL."
  UI_USERNAME: "Your desired UI admin account name"
  UI_PASSWORD: "Your desired and strong pwd"

# Authentication
environment_variables:
  AICORE_SERVICE_KEY: '{"credentials": {"clientid": "...", "clientsecret": "...", "url": "...", "serviceurls": {"AI_API_URL": "..."}}}'
  AICORE_RESOURCE_GROUP: "default"

Starting the Proxy

Start Proxy

litellm --config config.yaml

The proxy will start on http://localhost:4000 by default.

Making Requests

cURL

Test Request

curl http://localhost:4000/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-1234" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
  }'

OpenAI SDK

OpenAI SDK

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="http://localhost:4000",
    api_key="sk-1234"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

LiteLLM SDK

LiteLLM SDK

import os
import litellm

os.environ["LITELLM_PROXY_API_KEY"] = "sk-1234"
litellm.use_litellm_proxy = True

response = litellm.completion(
    model="claude-sonnet",
    messages=[{"content": "Hello, how are you?", "role": "user"}],
    api_base="http://localhost:4000"
)

print(response)

Features

Streaming Responses

Stream responses in real-time for better user experience:

Streaming Chat Completion

from litellm import completion

response = completion(
    model="sap/gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Count from 1 to 10"}],
    stream=True
)

for chunk in response:
    if chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content, end="", flush=True)

Structured Output

JSON Schema (Recommended)

Use JSON Schema for structured output with strict validation:

JSON Schema Response

from litellm import completion

response = completion(
    model="sap/gpt-4o",
    messages=[{
        "role": "user",
        "content": "Generate info about Tokyo"
    }],
    response_format={
        "type": "json_schema",
        "json_schema": {
            "name": "city_info",
            "schema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "name": {"type": "string"},
                    "population": {"type": "number"},
                    "country": {"type": "string"}
                },
                "required": ["name", "population", "country"],
                "additionalProperties": False
            },
            "strict": True
        }
    }
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)
# Output: {"name":"Tokyo","population":37000000,"country":"Japan"}

JSON Object Format

For flexible JSON output without schema validation:

JSON Object Response

from litellm import completion

response = completion(
    model="sap/gpt-4o",
    messages=[{
        "role": "user",
        "content": "Generate a person object in JSON format with name and age"
    }],
    response_format={"type": "json_object"}
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

SAP Platform Requirement

When using json_object type, SAP's orchestration service requires the word "json" to appear in your prompt. This ensures explicit intent for JSON formatting. For schema-validated output without this requirement, use json_schema instead (recommended).

Multi-turn Conversations

Maintain conversation context across multiple turns:

Multi-turn Conversation

from litellm import completion

response = completion(
    model="sap/gpt-4o",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "My name is Alice"},
        {"role": "assistant", "content": "Hello Alice! Nice to meet you."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "What is my name?"}
    ]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)
# Output: Your name is Alice.

Embeddings

Generate vector embeddings for semantic search and retrieval:

Create Embeddings

from litellm import embedding

response = embedding(
    model="sap/text-embedding-3-small",
    input=["Hello world", "Machine learning is fascinating"]
)

print(response.data[0]["embedding"])  # Vector representation

Additional Modules

The SAP Gen AI Hub includes additional modules for advanced use cases:

• Grounding
• Translation
• Data Masking
• Content Filtering

Grounding

Grounding is a service designed to handle data-related tasks, such as grounding and retrieval, using vector databases. It provides specialized data retrieval through these databases, grounding the retrieval process with your own external and context-relevant data. Grounding combines generative AI capabilities with the ability to use real-time, precise data to improve decision-making and business operations for specific AI-driven business solutions.

Prerequisites

To use the Grounding module in the orchestration pipeline, you need to prepare the knowledge base in advance.

Generative AI hub offers multiple options for users to provide data (prepare a knowledge base):

• For Option 1: Upload the documents to a supported data repository and run the data pipeline to vectorize the documents.
• For Option 2: Provide the chunks of document via Vector API directly.

To use grounding, choose from one of the following options.

Usage example:

Grounding Example

from litellm import completion

grounding_config = {
    'type': 'document_grounding_service',
    'config': {
        'filters': [
            {'id': 's3-docs',
             'data_repository_type': 'vector',
             'search_config': {'max_chunk_count': 2},
             'data_repositories': ['012345-6789-0123-4567-890123456789']
             }
        ],
        'placeholders': {'input': ['user_query'], 'output': 'grounding_response'},
        'metadata_params': ['source', 'webUrl', 'title', 'mimeType', 'fileSuffix']
    }
}

response = completion(model="sap/gpt-4o",
                      messages=[
                          {"content":"""Facility Solutions Company provides services to luxury residential complexes, 
                          apartments, individual homes, and commercial properties such as office buildings, retail 
                          spaces, industrial facilities, and educational institutions. Customers are encouraged to 
                          reach out with maintenance requests, service deficiencies, follow-ups, or any issues they 
                          need by email.""", "role": "system"},
                          {"content":"""You are a helpful assistant for any queries for answering questions. 
                          Answer the request by providing relevant answers that fit to the request.
                          Request: {{ ?user_query }}
                          Context:{{ ?grounding_response }}""", "role": "user"}
                      ],
                      placeholder_values={"user_query": "Is there a complaint?"},
                      grounding=grounding_config
                      )
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

For more information about all available grounding configurations, see the documentation.

Translation

The translation module allows you to translate LLM text prompts into a chosen target language.

Translation Example

from litellm import completion

translation_config = {
    'input':
        {'type': 'sap_document_translation',
         'config':
             {'source_language': 'en-US',
              'target_language': 'de-DE'}
         },
    'output':
        {'type': 'sap_document_translation',
         'config':
             {'source_language': 'de-DE',
              'target_language': 'fr-FR'}
         }
}

response = completion(model="sap/gpt-4o",
                      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello world!"}],
                      translation=translation_config)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

For more information about all available translation configurations, see the documentation

Data Masking

The data masking module serves to anonymize or pseudonymize personally identifiable information from the input for selected entities.

Data Masking Example

from litellm import completion, embedding
masking_config = {
            'providers':
                [
                    {
                        'type': 'sap_data_privacy_integration',
                        'method': 'anonymization',
                        'entities': [
                            {'type': 'profile-address'},
                            {'type': 'profile-email'},
                            {'type': 'profile-phone'},
                            {'type': 'profile-person'},
                            {'type': 'profile-location'}
                        ]
                    }
                ]
        }

mock_cv = "some text with personal information"

response = completion(model="sap/gpt-4o",
                      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Give a one sentence summary of the CV. CV: {{?cv}}?"}],
                      placeholder_values={"cv": mock_cv},
                      masking=masking_config)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

# Data masking module also available for embedding 
response = embedding(model="sap/text-embedding-3-small",
                      input=mock_cv,
                      masking=masking_config)
print(response.data[0])

For more information about all available data masking configurations, see the documentation

Content Filtering

The content filtering module allows you to filter input and output based on content safety criteria.

The module supports two services:

• Azure Content Safety
• Llama Guard 3

Content Filtering Example

from litellm import completion

filtering_config_azure = {
    'input':
        {
            'filters':
                [
                    {'type': 'azure_content_safety',
                     'config':
                         {'hate': 0,
                          'sexual': 0,
                          'violence': 0,
                          'self_harm': 0
                          }
                     }
                ]
        },
    'output':
        {
            'filters':
                [
                    {'type': 'azure_content_safety',
                     'config': {'hate': 0,
                          'sexual': 0,
                          'violence': 0,
                          'self_harm': 0
                          }
                     }
                ]
        }
}

response = completion(model="sap/gpt-4o",
                      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello world!"}],
                      filtering=filtering_config_azure)
print(response.choices[0].message.content) 
# The model responds normally because the content does not violate any safety rules.

try:
    response = completion(model="sap/gpt-4o",
                          messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "I hate you"}],
                          filtering=filtering_config_azure)
except Exception as e:
    print(e) 
    # The service raises an error:
    # "Input Filter: Content filtered due to safety violations. Please modify the prompt and try again."

For more information about all available content filtering configurations, see the documentation

List of modules configuration for fallback

SAP GEN AI Hub supports a fallback mechanism for handling errors. This mechanism allows you to specify a list of fallback modules to use in case of errors. The fallback modules should contain all parameters that are required for configuring the request.

Required parameters:

• model
• messages

Optional parameters:

• filtering

• grounding

• translation

• masking

• tools

• and any of model's specific parameters.

Fallback Example

from litellm import completion

translation_config = {
    'input':
        {'type': 'sap_document_translation',
         'config':
             {'source_language': 'en-US',
              'target_language': 'de-DE'}
         },
    'output':
        {'type': 'sap_document_translation',
         'config':
             {'source_language': 'de-DE',
              'target_language': 'fr-FR'}
         }
}

response = completion(model="sap/gpt-4o",
                      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello world!"}],
                      translation=translation_config,
                      fallback_sap_modules=[{
                          "model":"sap/gemini-2.5-flash",
                          "messages":[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello world!"}],
                          "translation":translation_config
                      }])

# In case of error with the first configuration (model gpt-4o), the fallback module is used.

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Reference

Supported Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
model	string	Model identifier (with sap/ prefix for SDK)
messages	array	Conversation messages
temperature	float	Controls randomness (0-2)
max_tokens	integer	Maximum tokens in response
top_p	float	Nucleus sampling threshold
stream	boolean	Enable streaming responses
response_format	object	Output format (json_object, json_schema)
tools	array	Function calling tool definitions
tool_choice	string/object	Tool selection behavior

Supported Models

For the complete and up-to-date list of available models provided by SAP Gen AI Hub, please refer to the SAP AI Core Generative AI Hub documentation.

Model Availability

Model availability varies by SAP deployment region and your subscription. Contact your SAP administrator to confirm which models are available in your environment.

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

If you receive authentication errors:

1. Verify all required environment variables are set correctly
2. Check that your service key hasn't expired
3. Confirm your resource group has access to the desired models
4. Ensure the AICORE_AUTH_URL and AICORE_BASE_URL match your SAP region

Model Not Found

If a model returns "not found":

1. Verify the model is available in your SAP deployment
2. Check you're using the correct model name format (sap/ prefix for SDK)
3. Confirm your resource group has access to that specific model
4. For Anthropic models, ensure you're using the anthropic-- double-dash prefix

Rate Limiting

SAP Gen AI Hub enforces rate limits based on your subscription. If you hit limits:

1. Implement exponential backoff retry logic
2. Consider using the proxy's built-in rate limiting features
3. Contact your SAP administrator to review quota allocations