Providers

Supply data to agents

What are Providers?

Providers = data sources that supply context for agent decision-making.

Provider Interface

interface Provider {
  name: string;           // Unique identifier
  description?: string;   // What it provides
  dynamic?: boolean;      // Changes over time?
  position?: number;      // Load priority (-100 to 100)
  private?: boolean;      // Hidden from provider list?
  get: (runtime, message, state) => Promise<ProviderResult>;
}

Core Providers (Bootstrap Plugin)

Provider	Returns	Example Use
characterProvider	Agent personality	Name, bio, traits
timeProvider	Current date/time	”What time is it?”
knowledgeProvider	Knowledge base	Documentation, facts
recentMessagesProvider	Chat history	Context awareness
actionsProvider	Available actions	”What can you do?”
factsProvider	Stored facts	User preferences
settingsProvider	Configuration	Model settings

Plugin Provider Examples

Finance

Provider	Plugin	Returns
walletProvider	plugin-sei	Balance, portfolio
marketProvider	plugin-arbitrage	Price feeds
tokenPriceProvider	plugin-dexscreener	Token prices, liquidity

Platform

Provider	Plugin	Returns
userProvider	plugin-discord	User info, roles
channelProvider	plugin-telegram	Channel data
serverProvider	plugin-discord	Server settings

Data

Provider	Plugin	Returns
searchProvider	plugin-web-search	Search results
documentProvider	plugin-obsidian	Note content
queryProvider	plugin-sql	Database results

Creating Providers

Basic Provider

const provider: Provider = {
  name: 'MY_DATA',
  get: async (runtime, message, state) => {
    return {
      text: "Contextual information",
      data: { key: "value" }
    };
  }
};

Dynamic Provider

const dynamicProvider: Provider = {
  name: 'LIVE_DATA',
  dynamic: true,  // Re-fetched each time
  get: async (runtime) => {
    const data = await fetchLatestData();
    return { data };
  }
};

Private Provider

const secretProvider: Provider = {
  name: 'INTERNAL_STATE',
  private: true,  // Not shown in provider list
  get: async (runtime) => {
    return runtime.getInternalState();
  }
};

Provider Return Format

interface ProviderResult {
  text?: string;      // Natural language context
  data?: {           // Structured data
    [key: string]: any;
  };
  values?: {         // Key-value pairs
    [key: string]: any;
  };
}

Provider Priority

// Lower numbers = higher priority
position: -100  // Loads first
position: 0     // Default
position: 100   // Loads last

Best Practices

• Return consistent data structures
• Handle errors gracefully
• Cache when appropriate
• Keep data fetching fast
• Document what data is provided

Next Steps

Actions

See how actions use provider data

Evaluators

Learn about response evaluation