1. Classification by task kind
Every request gets a task kind; the kind routes to a species. This is the core sort.
| Task kind | Sorted to | Species | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| summarize · extract · template · recipe · classify · travel · draft | LOCAL | Compsognathus | Mechanical, template-shaped - a tiny local genome is enough, $0 |
| (everything else - default) | FLASH | Triceratops | Default quality work, ~$0.14/M, reliable |
| analysis · reasoning · debate · financial | PRO | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Deep reasoning needs the heaviest genome, ~$0.43/M |
| deep-analysis · hard-reasoning · complex-reasoning · frontier | FRONTIER | Indominus Rex | Flagship engineered hybrid via Pro subscription (in-app Claude Code limit ~50% higher than documented) |
Unknown kinds default to Triceratops (quality over cost). The routing lives in agents/_shared/llm.py → tier_of(task_kind).
2. Free-roaming species: the cloud fallbacks
When a billed species fails (rate-limit, overload, connection error), the call cascades down through the free-roaming species before landing on the breeding facility (local). Each was probe-verified before release into the park:
| Species | Provider / model | Verified how |
|---|---|---|
| Gallimimus | Bluesminds - llama-3.1-70b | Probe call 200; 600 req/day cap |
| Brachiosaurus | OpenRouter - nemotron-3-super-120b :free | Probe verified working (120B MoE, $0) |
| Velociraptor | Groq - llama-3.3-70b | Fastest; fixed a Cloudflare 403/1010 UA-block to make it work |
| Dilophosaurus | NVIDIA NIM - llama-3.1-8b ★ | Key tested live; 8b always warm (~1s); 70b exists but cold-starts 4-10 min |
Full fallback order: T-Rex → Triceratops → Brachiosaurus → Velociraptor → Dilophosaurus → Gallimimus → Compsognathus. A T-Rex call that fails still answers - smaller, never errors.
3. The cheap-first cascade
Not every call needs the species its kind suggests. The park runs a cascade: start with the smallest species (local/free), and escalate only on a structured failure signal:
- Route the task kind to its species (above).
- Try the smallest species first - Compsognathus or a free-roamer.
- Escalate ONLY if: empty output, a refusal ("I cannot..."), or a validator rejects the answer.
- Repeat up the chain until a good answer comes back.
Result: easy intents cost $0; hard ones still get the heavy genome. No waste.
4. Quality guardrails on free species
- Vet Clinic (supervisor.py) re-checks free-species output for error echoes, refusals, and API-key leaks before it's trusted - escalates to a stronger species once if needed.
- Containment Fences (breaker.py) skip species that are tripped open - a down provider can't eat timeouts from 30 staff in parallel.
- PII never leaves the park. The PII guard is deterministic regex (no LLM at all); anything PII-adjacent stays on the local species.
5. DNA bank & caching - why $0 is real
| Layer | Mechanism | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| L1 primary samples | Disk cache on identical requests | Repeated calls: 0 credits |
| L2 genetic matching | MiniLM embeddings, cosine ≥0.93 | Near-identical questions: 0 credits |
| L3 deep genome prefix | DeepSeek auto prompt cache (stable species prefix + dynamic tail) | ~68% prefix hit on second call, 256-token floor |
| Local sequencing | sentence-transformers MiniLM, ollama nomic-embed-text | RAG/embeddings never billed |
The DNA bank runs at $0.000030/week. Billed species are avoided during DeepSeek peak hours (UTC 01:00-04:00 & 06:00-10:00); free species and local are allowed anytime.
6. Why these 8 species (the research method)
- Rejected by genome quality, not fame. Providers/tools vetted by code, live probes, and error behavior - not popularity ("stars can be manipulated").
- Probe-verified before release. Every free species got a real API call before joining the park (200 + live completion), including fixing Groq's Cloudflare UA block.
- Smallest genome that clears the bar. For each task kind, the minimum species that produces usable output wins - local first, free next, billed only when needed.
- Replaced when a better genome appears. The park swaps species as better free options emerge (e.g. NVIDIA NIM added 2026-08-14 as a warm 8b fallback).
- Everything fails safely. Containment fences, vet checks, and the breeding facility as a last resort - no single provider outage ever shuts the park.