Pick the best available VLM provider

Selects a provider based on what is reachable in the user's environment, in this preference order: local Ollama (if ollama_is_running()), then Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google (each requires the relevant *_API_KEY environment variable). Errors with an actionable installation / API-key hint when no provider is reachable.

Usage

vlm_pick_provider(verbose = TRUE)

Arguments

verbose

If TRUE (default), emits a one-line cli message explaining the chosen provider.

Value

Character scalar: one of "ollama", "anthropic", "openai", "google".