LiteLLM Core
litellm-core packages the LiteLLM Python SDK with fewer mandatory dependencies and without the bundled dashboard or gateway CLI entry points. It uses the same SDK sources and the same litellm Python namespace as the litellm distribution
Choose a package
| Package | When to use it |
|---|---|
litellm-core | Your application calls the SDK directly and you want to install AWS and Python Hugging Face tokenizer dependencies only when needed |
litellm | You want the existing distribution, its dependency defaults, and its supported installation extras |
For a gateway deployment, follow the Gateway Quickstart. Core does not provide the litellm command or bundled Admin UI
Install
Install core in a fresh virtual environment:
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install litellm-core
On Windows, activate the environment with .venv\Scripts\activate instead
Your Python imports still use litellm, including imports such as from litellm import completion or from litellm import Router. The distribution name is litellm-core; there is no change to the public import namespace
litellm and litellm-core install overlapping files. Installing both in the same environment causes import litellm to fail, even when their versions match
When moving an application to core, replace litellm in its dependency declaration and regenerate its lockfile in a fresh environment. If another dependency requires litellm, resolve that requirement before switching
SDK functionality
Core retains provider request and response translation, synchronous and asynchronous completions, streaming, embeddings, token counting, model metadata, and cost calculations. The shared SDK also includes the Router, retries, fallbacks, and provider error mapping
The package split preserves the broader SDK API surface, including Responses, image, audio, and batch operations. Model and provider support still varies by endpoint, and individual integrations can require additional packages. See Supported Endpoints and the relevant provider guide
Optional dependencies
Core removes boto3, tokenizers, and huggingface-hub from its mandatory dependencies. It declares python-dateutil directly and continues to require packages such as jsonschema and tiktoken
Install optional packages directly. Core does not currently declare installation extras such as litellm-core[aws] or litellm-core[tokenizers]
AWS operations
Install boto3 for AWS credential resolution, SigV4 signing, and AWS event-stream decoding:
python -m pip install boto3
This also installs botocore. AWS-dependent features include signed Bedrock requests, SageMaker, Polly, and AWS integrations such as Secrets Manager and S3 logging
Bedrock bearer-token request preparation can work without botocore. Streaming paths that decode AWS event streams still require it, so bearer authentication alone does not make every Bedrock operation independent of the AWS packages
Python Hugging Face tokenizers
Install the Python tokenizer packages when your application uses those paths:
python -m pip install tokenizers huggingface-hub
Core retains its native tokenizer implementation and tiktoken dependency. Token counting does not universally require the optional Python Hugging Face packages. Where token counting falls back to an approximation, LiteLLM emits a warning; treat that result as an estimate
Missing optional dependencies are reported when the operation requiring them runs, with installation guidance
Installation footprint
In matching source-build comparisons, litellm-core reduced installed size by 32.2%, saving approximately 65.6 MB including runtime dependencies
Both builds used version 1.106.0, matching shared dependency versions, and the same Linux machine and Python interpreter. Measurements cover default installations without optional extras, excluding generated bytecode and common tooling. The source builds were baseline 5d207d85 and core 029a626c
Relationship to litellm
Currently, litellm-core and litellm are independently packaged distributions built from shared sources. Installing or upgrading litellm continues to use its existing dependency set
The planned architecture makes litellm-core the shared SDK dependency, with litellm wrapping it. That relationship is not implemented yet: litellm does not currently depend on litellm-core. Continue to choose one distribution per environment and use the litellm Python import namespace with either package
