Getting Started

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have the Control Layer running locally and will have sent your first request to an LLM through it.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• An API key from a model provider. If you don't have one:
  • Doubleword: app.doubleword.ai/api-keys
  • OpenAI: platform.openai.com/api-keys
  • Anthropic: console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
  • Or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (Together, Groq, local vLLM, etc.)

Step 1: Start the Control Layer

Download the Docker Compose file and start the stack:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/doublewordai/control-layer/refs/heads/main/docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

Wait about 30 seconds for the services to initialize¹.

Step 2: Log in to the dashboard

Sign in with the default admin credentials:

Step 3: Add an endpoint

Click Endpoints in the sidebar, then click Add Endpoint.

In the dialog:

1. Use the dropdown in the Base URL field to select a popular endpoint (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google), or enter a custom URL
2. Paste your API key in the API Key field
3. Click Discover Models

The Control Layer connects to your provider and fetches available models.

4. Select the models you want to enable, then click Save

Step 4: Grant access to a group

Models must be added to a group before users can access them.

On any model card, click + Add groups in the top right corner. Select Everyone (the default group that includes all users), then click Done.

Step 5: Test in the Playground

On a model card, click Playground.

Type a message and press Enter.

Step 6: Send a request via the API

Create an API key

1. Click API Keys in the sidebar
2. Click Create API Key
3. Enter a name (e.g., "test-key") and click Create Key
4. Copy the key now - you won't see it again

Make a request

Using curl (replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key you copied):

curl http://localhost:3001/ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
  }'

Or using Python:

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="http://localhost:3001/ai/v1",
    api_key="YOUR_API_KEY"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o-mini",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Done!

You have a working Control Layer instance routing requests to your AI provider.

Next steps:

• Add more endpoints to access additional providers
• Set up users and groups to manage team access
• Configure for production