If your organization runs its own AI model, or uses a private deployment of a third-party LLM, Grain's Bring Your Own LLM (BYOLLM) feature lets you route all AI processing through it. This is especially common for enterprise security teams that require AI to operate exclusively within their controlled environment, or for companies whose LLM is trained on proprietary internal data.
What BYOLLM does
When BYOLLM is enabled, Grain uses your LLM's API credentials to generate all AI outputs in your workspace, including meeting notes, transcripts, action items, summaries, and topic tags. Recording, storage, sharing, and integrations are not affected.
Teams use this when:
Security policy requires AI to operate exclusively within a controlled environment
Your LLM is trained on proprietary internal data
Data governance or compliance requirements restrict third-party AI processing
Before you start
Enterprise plan required: BYOLLM is not available on Business or Starter plans. If you're on Business or Starter, contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or see Grain pricing to confirm eligibility.
Gather your credentials: you'll need your LLM's API URL, API key, and access secret before contacting Grain.
Embedding model required: Grain currently supports Cohere v4 for embeddings. You'll need to have a Cohere v4 deployment ready and share the deployment URL with Grain.
Setup is not self-serve: Grain's engineering team enables BYOLLM on the backend after you provide credentials. There is no toggle in your admin settings.
Step 1: Request BYOLLM activation
Contact your Grain Customer Success Manager (CSM) or reach out to Grain Support to request activation. Let them know:
You want to enable BYOLLM
Which infrastructure you're using (Azure, AWS, or GCP)
Grain's team will confirm your plan eligibility and send instructions for submitting credentials.
Note: Confirm eligibility with your CSM before gathering credentials, BYOLLM is only available on Enterprise plans.
Step 2: Provide your LLM credentials
Grain will ask you for the following:
API URL: the endpoint for your LLM deployment
API key (also called access key)
Access secret
Embedding model deployment URL: your Cohere v4 deployment endpoint
Send credentials securely. Use a tool like 1Password's secure share link or your organization's approved secure transfer method.
Note: Do not send API credentials over unencrypted email.
Step 3: Grain enables the connection
Grain's engineering team connects your LLM to your workspace on the backend. You do not need to make any changes in your Grain workspace settings.
Once enabled, your CSM will confirm.
You don't need to make any changes in your Grain workspace settings, it's all done server-side.
Step 4: Verify it's working
Run a test meeting through Grain and confirm that notes and summaries are generated as expected.
If something looks off after activation, contact your CSM.
Note: If your LLM credentials change (key rotation, new deployment URL), contact your CSM to update them.