Task Types

What it does

The X-Lectr-Task header tells Lectr what kind of work a request is doing. Without it, Lectr guesses from signals like prompt length and response length — educated guesses, medium confidence. With it, Lectr knows with certainty and generates high-confidence model recommendations.

X-Lectr-Feature: classifier
X-Lectr-Task: classification   ← this one

That’s it. One extra header.

The five task types

Value	Use when you’re…
`classification`	Sorting input into categories — sentiment, intent, priority
`summarisation`	Condensing content into a shorter form
`extraction`	Pulling structured data out of unstructured text
`generation`	Creating new content — copy, emails, code
`reasoning`	Multi-step thinking, analysis, complex problem solving

Values outside this list are stored as-is and visible in your dashboard but don’t influence recommendations.

Adding the header

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
  baseURL: "https://proxy.lectr.ai/v1",
  defaultHeaders: {
    "X-Lectr-Key": process.env.LECTR_KEY,
    "X-Lectr-Feature": "classifier",
    "X-Lectr-Task": "classification",
  },
});

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://proxy.lectr.ai/v1",
    default_headers={
        "X-Lectr-Key": os.environ["LECTR_KEY"],
        "X-Lectr-Feature": "classifier",
        "X-Lectr-Task": "classification",
    },
)

If your feature handles multiple task types, override per request:

const response = await client.chat.completions.create(
  { model: "gpt-4o", messages },
  { headers: { "X-Lectr-Task": isComplex ? "reasoning" : "generation" } },
);

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=messages,
    extra_headers={
        "X-Lectr-Task": "reasoning" if is_complex else "generation",
    },
)

How Lectr uses it

Model recommendations

Task type is the highest-confidence signal in the recommendation engine — it overrides heuristic signals when present.

Task type	What Lectr does
`classification`	Strong downgrade candidate — smaller models handle this well
`summarisation`	Downgrade candidate — more conservative if prompts are long
`extraction`	Downgrade candidate — conservative for complex nested extraction
`generation`	Neutral — relies on other signals, not task type alone
`reasoning`	Never recommended for downgrade. Ever.

The reasoning protection is hardcoded. No signal, no matter how strong, will produce a downgrade recommendation for a reasoning task.

Dashboard visibility

Task type appears as a column in your request logs table — you can see exactly which task type was tagged on each request and filter by it.

Using with routing rules

Routing rules can use task type to automatically direct requests to the right model. For example:

If X-Lectr-Task = classification
→ Route to gpt-4o-mini

This allows you to:

run simple tasks on cheaper models
reserve powerful models for complex reasoning
optimize cost without changing application code

Task type becomes a reliable signal for automated routing — no heuristics, no guesswork. See Routing Rules for how to configure this.

Reference

Header	`X-Lectr-Task`
Required	No
Valid values	`classification` `summarisation` `extraction` `generation` `reasoning`
Invalid values	Stored as-is, no influence on recommendations
Missing	Request processed normally, heuristic signals used

FAQ

Do I need X-Lectr-Feature to use X-Lectr-Task?

No — they’re independent. But combining them gives Lectr the most context and produces the most confident recommendations.

What if my feature does multiple task types?

Override per request. A chat feature might use reasoning for complex questions and generation for drafting — tag each request with what it’s actually doing.

Does this affect my prompts or responses?

No. Lectr reads the header and stores it as metadata. Your prompt, model choice, and response are untouched.

Does it add latency?

No. The header is read on ingress and stored after the request completes. Zero hot path impact.

Getting started

Concepts

Guides

Reference

Security

What it does

The five task types

Adding the header

How Lectr uses it

Model recommendations

Dashboard visibility

Using with routing rules

Reference

FAQ

​What it does

​The five task types

​Adding the header

​How Lectr uses it

​Model recommendations

​Dashboard visibility

​Using with routing rules

​Reference

​FAQ

What it does

The five task types

Adding the header

How Lectr uses it

Model recommendations

Dashboard visibility

Using with routing rules

Reference

FAQ