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Mistral Setup Guide

This guide walks you through setting up Mistral AI models with Janito.

Overview

Mistral AI provides a comprehensive suite of models including: - General-purpose models: Mistral Small, Medium, and Large - Code-focused models: Codestral for code generation and completion - Development-focused models: Devstral for agentic software development

Prerequisites

  1. Python 3.8+ installed
  2. Janito installed (uv pip install janito)
  3. Mistral API Key from La Plateforme

Quick Setup

1. Get Your API Key

  1. Visit Mistral AI La Plateforme
  2. Sign up or log in to your account
  3. Navigate to API Keys section
  4. Create a new API key
  5. Copy the key for use in Janito

2. Configure Janito

Set your Mistral API key using one of these methods:

```bash

Linux/macOS

export MISTRAL_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Windows (PowerShell)

$env:MISTRAL_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Windows (Command Prompt)

set MISTRAL_API_KEY=your-api-key-here ```

Method 2: Janito CLI

bash janito set-api-key mistral your-api-key-here

Method 3: Interactive Setup

```bash janito chat

Then use the !model command to select mistral and follow prompts

```

Available Models

General Purpose Models

  • mistral-large-latest (default) - Most capable with 128k context
  • mistral-medium-latest - Balanced performance with 32k context
  • mistral-small-latest - Compact and efficient with 32k context

Code-Focused Models

  • codestral-latest - Specialized for code generation with 256k context
  • codestral-2405 - Previous version of code-focused model

Development-Focused Models

  • devstral-small-latest - Optimized for agentic tool use
  • devstral-medium-latest - Enhanced agentic capabilities

Usage Examples

Basic Chat

```bash

Start chat with default model (mistral-large-latest)

janito chat --provider mistral

Use specific model

janito chat --provider mistral --model codestral-latest ```

Single-Shot Mode

```bash

Quick question

janito "Explain quantum computing" --provider mistral

Code generation

janito "Write a Python function for fibonacci" --provider mistral --model codestral-latest ```

Configuration File

You can also configure Mistral in your Janito configuration:

```yaml

~/.janito/config.yaml

providers: mistral: api_key: "your-api-key-here" model: "mistral-large-latest" ```

Model Selection Tips

  • General conversations: Use mistral-large-latest for best results
  • Code generation: Use codestral-latest for programming tasks
  • Development workflows: Use devstral-* models for agentic development
  • Cost optimization: Use mistral-small-latest for simpler tasks

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. "Invalid API key" error
  2. Verify your API key is correct
  3. Check if the key has proper permissions

  4. Ensure no extra spaces in the key

  5. "Model not found" error

  6. Check available models with: janito list-models --provider mistral

  7. Ensure you're using the exact model name

  8. Rate limiting

  9. Mistral has rate limits based on your plan
  10. Consider upgrading your plan or implementing retry logic

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging to see API requests:

```bash

Enable HTTP debug for Mistral

export MISTRAL_DEBUG_HTTP=1 janito chat --provider mistral --verbose-api ```

Testing Connection

Test your setup:

```bash

Ping the provider

janito ping-providers

List available models

janito list-models --provider mistral

Test with a simple query

janito "Hello, Mistral!" --provider mistral ```

Advanced Configuration

Custom Base URL

If you need to use a different endpoint (e.g., for enterprise deployments):

bash janito set-config mistral.base_url "https://your-custom-endpoint.com/v1"

Model Parameters

You can set default parameters for Mistral models:

bash janito set-config mistral.temperature 0.5 janito set-config mistral.max_tokens 2000

Support

For additional help: - Check the Mistral AI documentation - Review Janito troubleshooting guides - Join our Discord community