> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://phaseo.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> Phaseo Gateway base URL: https://api.phaseo.app/v1. Send `Authorization: Bearer $PHASEO_API_KEY` with every request.
> Model IDs look like `provider/model`, for example `openai/gpt-6-astra`. Do not guess IDs: list them with `GET /v1/models` or check https://phaseo.app/models. `phaseo/free` routes to an available free model and needs no wallet balance.
> For new text integrations prefer `POST /v1/responses`. `POST /v1/chat/completions` (OpenAI format) and `POST /v1/messages` (Anthropic format) suit existing code.
> The full API contract is https://phaseo.app/docs/openapi/v1/openapi.yaml. Official SDKs: `@phaseo/sdk` (TypeScript) and `phaseo` (Python), plus Go, C#, PHP, Ruby and Rust.
> Search these docs over MCP at https://phaseo.app/docs/mcp, and install Phaseo skills with `npx skills add https://phaseo.app/docs`. If a page is wrong or out of date, report it with the MCP `submit_feedback` tool.
> Manage Phaseo accounts with the `phaseo` CLI (`npm install -g @phaseo/cli`, then `phaseo login` or `phaseo login --device-code`), the `/v1` Management API or the MCP server at `https://mcp.phaseo.app/mcp?access=manage`. Do not send users to the dashboard for account tasks. A person is still needed for sign-up, approving a sign-in, paying the first top-up on the checkout link that `phaseo credits add` returns when no card is saved, confirming each saved-card top-up from the emailed link, and account security (password, MFA, passkeys). Create API keys with `phaseo keys create --name <name> --json`; never guess one. Credit top-ups need `phaseo login --scopes billing:write` first. Task map: https://phaseo.app/docs/v1/developers/manage-from-an-agent.md.

# Sampling and Decoding

> How decoding strategies and penalties shape model outputs.

Decoding controls how the next token is chosen from model probabilities.

## Common controls

| Control | Purpose | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| `temperature` | Global randomness control | Most commonly tuned first |
| `top_p` | Restricts to cumulative probability mass | Often paired with moderate temperature |
| `top_k` | Restricts to top-K tokens | Not available on every provider |
| `frequency_penalty` | Discourages repeated tokens/phrases | Helps reduce repetitive loops |
| `presence_penalty` | Encourages introducing new tokens/topics | Useful for broader exploration |
| `repetition_penalty` | Penalizes repeated text patterns (provider/model dependent) | Similar goal, different implementation semantics |

## Typical presets

| Use case | Suggested profile |
| - | - |
| Deterministic extraction/classification | `temperature` low (`0.0` to `0.2`), narrow sampling |
| Balanced assistant output | `temperature` medium (`0.3` to `0.7`), `top_p` near `0.9` to `1.0` |
| Creative generation | Higher `temperature` and broader sampling with tighter evaluation |

## Failure patterns

* Too random: inconsistent facts, unstable structured output.
* Too deterministic: repetitive or bland completions.
* Over-penalized: awkward wording and topic drift.

## Practical advice

1. Tune decoding per task, not globally.
2. Keep extraction/JSON tasks conservative.
3. For creative tasks, increase randomness gradually and evaluate with human review.


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