Where lock-in actually comes from
Lock-in is rarely one big decision. It creeps in through small choices: a provider-specific SDK sprinkled through your code, prompts tuned to one model's quirks, or data formats only one vendor accepts.
- Provider SDK calls scattered across the codebase instead of behind one interface
- Prompts and outputs tuned so tightly to one model that another fails silently
- Proprietary data formats or embeddings that don't transfer
- Business logic living inside a vendor's platform instead of your own code
- No evaluation set, so you can't tell if a replacement is better or worse
How we design for portability
The core idea is an abstraction layer: your application talks to one internal interface, and the specific provider lives behind it. Switching becomes a configuration change plus a round of testing, not a rewrite.
- A single model-access layer so provider details live in one place
- A saved evaluation set to compare a new model against the current one on your tasks
- Your own copy of prompts, data, and outputs kept in portable formats
- Business rules in your code, not in a vendor's console
- Config-driven provider choice so you can route or fall back between vendors
The honest trade-offs
Full portability has a cost. Some providers offer features that are genuinely hard to replicate, and abstracting everything can slow you down early. We help you decide where flexibility is worth it and where a deliberate, documented dependency is fine.
- Deep provider features (certain tools or hosting) may not be portable, and that can be acceptable
- A thin abstraction adds a little upfront work for large future savings
- Multi-provider fallback improves resilience but adds testing surface
- We document every intentional dependency so it's a choice, not a surprise
More on ai integrations
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't an abstraction layer just slow down the first release?
A little, but a thin boundary is cheap to add at the start and very expensive to retrofit later. We keep it lightweight, just enough to swap providers without touching your product logic, not a heavy framework.
Which provider should we start with?
Whichever best fits the task, your budget, and your privacy needs today. The point of designing for portability is that this choice stops being permanent, so you can re-evaluate as prices and models change.
Can you migrate us off a provider we're already locked into?
Often yes. We start by mapping every place the current provider is wired in, build the abstraction layer around it, then move one piece at a time with your evaluation set confirming quality holds.