Get started with the GitHub Models integrations

GitHub Models provides access to a broad catalog of AI models — including OpenAI’s GPT models, DeepSeek, Microsoft’s Phi models, and more — through GitHub’s infrastructure and your existing GitHub token. The Aspire GitHub Models integration lets you model a GitHub Model resource as a first-class resource in your AppHost, then hand the connection information to any consuming app — regardless of language.

Why use GitHub Models with Aspire

Adding GitHub Models through Aspire — rather than hard-coding API keys and endpoints in each service — gives you:

• Centralized credential management. The GitHub token is stored once as a secret parameter in the AppHost and injected into each consuming app automatically.
• Typed model resources with connection strings. Each GitHub Model resource composes a connection string from the endpoint, API key, and model identifier, giving consuming apps a single named connection.
• Consistent connection info across languages. Once you reference a model resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects connection properties as environment variables in a predictable format that works from C#, TypeScript, Python, Go, or any other language.
• Automatic GITHUB_TOKEN fallback. In Codespaces and GitHub Actions the ambient GITHUB_TOKEN is used automatically — no extra secrets to configure.
• A first-class C# client integration. C# apps can use Aspire.Azure.AI.Inference or Aspire.OpenAI for dependency injection, health checks, and OpenTelemetry, all wired up from the same resource name.

How the pieces fit together

The GitHub Models integration has two sides: a hosting integration that you use in your AppHost to model the GitHub Model resource, and a connection story for consuming apps that reference it.

architecture-beta

  group apphost(server)[AppHost]
  group consumer(server)[Consuming app]

  service hosting(server)[Hosting integration] in apphost
  service githubmodels(internet)[GitHub Models API] in apphost
  service model(database)[chat model] in apphost

  service client(iconoir:server-connection)[Client integration] in consumer
  service app(server)[App] in consumer

  hosting:R --> L:githubmodels
  githubmodels:R --> L:model
  model:R --> L:client
  client:R --> L:app

The hosting integration lives in your AppHost project and models the GitHub Model resource. The client integration lives in each consuming app and uses the connection information Aspire injects to call the GitHub Models API.

Getting there is a two-step process: model the GitHub Model resource in your AppHost, then connect to the API from each app that needs it.

1. Model GitHub Models in your AppHost

   Add the GitHub Models hosting integration to your AppHost, then declare a model resource and reference it from the apps that need to call the API. The GitHub Models hosting integration article walks through every capability — adding model resources, API key parameters, organization configuration, and health checks — with side-by-side C# and TypeScript examples.

   Set up GitHub Models in the AppHost

2. Connect from your consuming app

   When you reference a GitHub Model resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects its connection information as environment variables. See Connect to GitHub Models for the connection properties reference and per-language examples for C#, Go, Python, and TypeScript — including the full C# client integration.

   Connect to GitHub Models

See also

• GitHub Models on GitHub Marketplace
• GitHub Models documentation