diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b512c09..851b56c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
-node_modules
\ No newline at end of file
+node_modules
+apps
+cofounder/api/db
+package-lock.json
diff --git a/cofounder/api/.env b/cofounder/api/.env
index 41b8f02..5593ffc 100644
--- a/cofounder/api/.env
+++ b/cofounder/api/.env
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 PORT = 4200
 
+OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://api.openai.com/v1" # Replace with your OpenAI-compatible API base URL if you are using a service similar to OpenAI’s APIs
 OPENAI_API_KEY = "REPLACE_WITH_OPENAI_KEY"
+OPENAI_MODEL="gpt-4o-mini"
 ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "REPLACE_WITH_ANTHROPIC_KEY"
 COFOUNDER_API_KEY = "REPLACE_WITH_COFOUNDER.OPENINTERFACE.AI_KEY"
 
 # llm, can be 'ANTHROPIC' (for claude sonnet 3.5) or 'OPENAI' (uses diff. models for diff. passes)
 # make sure there are matching api keys
-LLM_PROVIDER = "ANTHROPIC" #"OPENAI"
+LLM_PROVIDER = "OPENAI" #"OPENAI"
 
 # should be kept to "text-embedding-3-small" to work with RAG using api.cofounder.openinterface.ai
 EMBEDDING_MODEL = "text-embedding-3-small"
diff --git a/cofounder/api/utils/openai.js b/cofounder/api/utils/openai.js
index 20470af..fa45fbd 100644
--- a/cofounder/api/utils/openai.js
+++ b/cofounder/api/utils/openai.js
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ let openai;
 try {
 	openai = new OpenAI({
 		apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
+		baseURL: process.env.OPENAI_BASE_URL || "https://api.openai.com/v1",
 	});
 } catch (e) {
 	console.error("utils:openai : " + e);
 }
 
 async function inference({
-	model = `gpt-4o-mini`,
+	model = process.env.OPENAI_MODEL || `gpt-4o-mini`,
 	messages,
 	stream = process.stdout,
 }) {