SeaShell avoids vendor lock-in by treating the model as a setting rather than an architecture. You switch the active model and provider from a dialog mid-session, with favorites and recents for the 2 or 3 you actually use. When a vendor raises prices or a better model ships, the change is a menu selection, not a migration project.
What lock-in actually costs
Lock-in is rarely 1 large bill. It is the inability to react: a provider changes pricing, deprecates a model, or ships a worse release, and a tool built around that single vendor gives its users no move to make except absorb it.
The question worth asking a coding tool is not which model it uses today, it is what happens on the day that model gets worse or more expensive. If the answer requires waiting for the vendor to add support, the model was an architectural commitment rather than a configuration value, and the cost arrives later at a moment you did not choose.
Switching mid-session
SeaShell exposes provider and model selection as a dialog you open during a session, with favorites and recents surfaced first. Most people cycle between 2 and 3 models, so the ones you use are 1 keystroke away rather than buried in configuration.
Switching mid-session matters more than switching at startup. Planning a refactor and implementing it are different jobs with different cost profiles, and being able to move between a stronger model and a cheaper one inside one piece of work is where the flexibility actually pays.
Bring your own keys, including a local endpoint
SeaShell runs on your own provider API keys, so usage is billed by the provider directly rather than resold. A local OpenAI-compatible endpoint registers as a provider like any other, which puts 1 more option on the list when cost or privacy dominates.
Owning the key is the part that makes switching real. When the billing relationship is yours, moving between providers is an account decision you can make unilaterally, and nothing about your history or configuration is held by an intermediary you would have to negotiate with to leave.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I avoid vendor lock-in with an AI coding tool?
- Use a tool where the model is a setting. SeaShell lets you switch the active model and provider on the fly, with favorites and recents.
- Can I change models in the middle of a session?
- Yes. Provider and model selection is a dialog you open during a session, not a startup-only choice.
- Whose API keys does SeaShell use?
- Yours. Usage is billed by the provider directly rather than resold through SeaShell.
- Can I point SeaShell at a local model instead?
- Yes. SeaShell detects a local Ollama server and registers its models as a provider, and an OpenAI-compatible local endpoint can be configured by URL.
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