# Speak One Protocol. Run Any Model. > Speak OpenAI or Anthropic, reach models behind all four chat-protocol families. The gateway translates any-to-any and normalizes streaming and tool calls — client code stays unchanged. Canonical: https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/one-protocol-any-model/ Your app keeps one SDK and one wire format. The gateway translates across the four chat-protocol families and normalizes streaming, tool calls and errors — so adding a vendor or swapping a model never touches business code. ## What the community actually complains about "We added a second vendor and now we maintain two SDK paths, two streaming parsers and two tool-call formats." "Claude Code only speaks Anthropic, so we could not put it on any other model." "Every proxy that says OpenAI-compatible breaks somewhere else." The real cost of a model is the API call plus the code written around it. The second part never shows up on the invoice — it shows up in sprints, and it multiplies with every vendor you add. ## How GateLLM does it Four protocol families on both sides — OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DashScope — translate any-to-any. An Anthropic-only client (Claude Code, claude-code-action) reaches a Qwen- or DeepSeek-native model without a client change; beyond the four families, 15 more upstream protocol shapes are covered per the interop matrix. A capability-normalization layer handles what a protocol swap actually costs: streaming chunk shapes, tool call and tool result mapping, image and multimodal parts, and error semantics. Keys, policy and cost attribution apply the same way whichever protocol pair a request crosses. ## 5 levers that actually land - One SDK, one streaming parser, one tool-call format in the client — a new vendor is a console change - Anthropic-only agents can run any supported model; no fork, no adapter - Model swaps stay inside the gateway, so application code and its tests stay untouched - Native egress: each provider receives its own protocol instead of a re-translated OpenAI envelope - The same key, budget and policy surface across every protocol pair ## FAQ ### Is "OpenAI-compatible" enough? No. OpenAI-compatible usually means an OpenAI-shaped ingress re-translated into one envelope: non-OpenAI SDKs go through compatibility shims, and cross-vendor format drift needs per-model adapters. GateLLM keeps four ingress and four egress protocols native and translates any-to-any, with the remaining shapes documented in the interop matrix. ### Which models can an Anthropic-only client actually reach? Any model the gateway routes to, regardless of that vendor's native protocol — an Anthropic SDK call routed to a DashScope-native model is converted to the DashScope protocol on egress, while the client keeps speaking Anthropic. ### Does crossing protocols change what I pay? No token markup. Only the upstream model's price applies, and usage is metered against the same key, budget and cost attribution as any other request. - [Full reference: protocol interop matrix (docs)](https://docs.gatellm.io/en/reference/protocol-matrix) ## Related use cases - [One protocol also reaches the rest of the mixed-model stack](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/mixed-model-stack.md) ## Related - [Home](https://www.gatellm.io/index.md) - [Pricing](https://www.gatellm.io/pricing.md) - [Cost Calculator](https://www.gatellm.io/calculator.md) - [About](https://www.gatellm.io/about.md) - [Book a Demo](https://www.gatellm.io/demo.md) - [FAQ](https://www.gatellm.io/faq.md) - [Compare AI Gateways](https://www.gatellm.io/compare.md) - [Compare LiteLLM](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm.md) - [Compare OpenRouter](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/openrouter.md) - [Compare Alibaba Cloud AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/alibaba-cloud.md) - [Compare Azure API Management](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/azure-apim.md) - [Compare Apigee](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/apigee.md) - [Compare Cloudflare AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/cloudflare.md) - [Compare Kong AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/kong.md) - [Compare Portkey](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/portkey.md) - [LiteLLM vs Kong AI Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-kong.md) - [LiteLLM vs OpenRouter](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-openrouter.md) - [LiteLLM vs Portkey](https://www.gatellm.io/compare/litellm-vs-portkey.md) - [Use Cases](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases.md) - [Reduce LLM Cost](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/reduce-cost.md) - [High Availability](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/high-availability.md) - [Multi-Tenant Isolation](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/multi-tenant.md) - [Compliance & Audit](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/compliance-audit.md) - [Troubleshooting by Symptom](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/troubleshooting.md) - [Mixed Multi-Vendor Model Stack](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/mixed-model-stack.md) - [Self-Host AI Inside Office](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/self-hosted-office-ai.md) - [Token Usage Visibility & Attribution](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/token-ops.md) - [Token FinOps: AI Cost Allocation & Control](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/token-finops.md) - [MCP Tool Governance](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/mcp-tool-governance.md) - [Web Search for Every Model](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/web-search-grounding.md) - [Multi-Key Rotation & Standby](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/multi-key-pooling.md) - [Admission Control for Connected Clients](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/client-admission-control.md) - [Enforce Which Model Agents Actually Run](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/enforce-model-policy.md) - [No Model Choice on the Client](https://www.gatellm.io/use-cases/automatic-model-tiering.md) - [Office / Microsoft 365 Add-in](https://www.gatellm.io/office-addin.md) - [Glossary](https://www.gatellm.io/glossary.md) - [Model Catalog](https://www.gatellm.io/models.md) - [SDK & Framework Integrations](https://www.gatellm.io/integrations.md) - [AI Coding Agents & Harnesses](https://www.gatellm.io/coding-agents.md) - [Security & Compliance](https://www.gatellm.io/security.md) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.gatellm.io/privacy-policy.md) - [Terms of Service](https://www.gatellm.io/terms.md) - [Cookie Policy](https://www.gatellm.io/cookies.md) - [Data Processing Agreement (DPA)](https://www.gatellm.io/dpa.md) - [Sub-processor List](https://www.gatellm.io/subprocessors.md) - [Security Questionnaire (CAIQ/SIG/VSA)](https://www.gatellm.io/trust.md) - [Incident Response & Support](https://www.gatellm.io/sla.md) - [Vulnerability Disclosure Policy](https://www.gatellm.io/vulnerability-disclosure.md) - [Open Source License Notice](https://www.gatellm.io/open-source-licenses.md) - [Version Support & Lifecycle (EOL)](https://www.gatellm.io/lifecycle.md) - [Engineering Blog](https://www.gatellm.io/blog.md) - [Your Agents Have More Permissions Than Your Employees: Governing MCP Tools at the Gateway](https://www.gatellm.io/blog/mcp-tool-governance.md) - [The $10k Invoice Problem: Five Ways to Cut LLM Spend Without Dumbing Down Your App](https://www.gatellm.io/blog/reduce-cost.md) - [Your Vendor's List Price Is Not Your Cost: Applying Real FinOps to Token Spend](https://www.gatellm.io/blog/token-finops.md) - [llms.txt](https://www.gatellm.io/llms.txt)