diff --git a/.envrc.template b/.envrc.template
index 8438939..cb0f439 100644
--- a/.envrc.template
+++ b/.envrc.template
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 export OPENAI_API_KEY=""
 export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""
 export XAI_API_KEY=""
+export GROQ_API_KEY=""
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/simplemind/models.py b/simplemind/models.py
index 4a85c99..397e773 100644
--- a/simplemind/models.py
+++ b/simplemind/models.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import uuid
-from typing import List, Dict, Any, Optional
 from datetime import datetime
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Literal, Optional
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
@@ -17,8 +17,41 @@ class SMBaseModel(BaseModel):
         return str(self)
 
 
+class BaseProvider(SMBaseModel):
+    """The base provider class."""
+
+    __name__ = "BaseProvider"
+    DEFAULT_MODEL = "DEFAULT_MODEL"
+
+    @property
+    def client(self):
+        """The instructor client for the provider."""
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    @property
+    def structured_client(self):
+        """The structured client for the provider."""
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def send_conversation(self, conversation: "Conversation"):
+        """Send a conversation to the provider."""
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def structured_response(self, prompt: str, response_model, **kwargs):
+        """Get a structured response."""
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def generate_text(self, prompt: str, **kwargs):
+        """Generate text from a prompt."""
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+
+class BasePlugin(SMBaseModel):
+    """The base plugin class."""
+
+
 class Message(SMBaseModel):
-    role: str
+    role: Literal["system", "user", "assistant"]
     text: str
     meta: Dict[str, Any] = {}
     raw: Optional[Any] = None
diff --git a/simplemind/providers/__init__.py b/simplemind/providers/__init__.py
index 87787ea..bf54bf5 100644
--- a/simplemind/providers/__init__.py
+++ b/simplemind/providers/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-from .openai import OpenAI
 from .anthropic import Anthropic
+from .groq import Groq
+from .openai import OpenAI
 from .xai import XAI
 
-providers = [OpenAI, Anthropic, XAI]
+providers = [Anthropic, Groq, OpenAI, XAI]
diff --git a/simplemind/providers/anthropic.py b/simplemind/providers/anthropic.py
index 12ec1c4..e4cdb7a 100644
--- a/simplemind/providers/anthropic.py
+++ b/simplemind/providers/anthropic.py
@@ -1,19 +1,21 @@
+from typing import Union
+
 import anthropic
 import instructor
 
-# from ..models import Conversation, Message
-from ..settings import settings
+from simplemind.models import BaseProvider, Conversation, Message
+from simplemind.settings import settings
 
 PROVIDER_NAME = "anthropic"
 DEFAULT_MODEL = "claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022"
 DEFAULT_MAX_TOKENS = 1000
 
 
-class Anthropic:
+class Anthropic(BaseProvider):
     __name__ = PROVIDER_NAME
     DEFAULT_MODEL = DEFAULT_MODEL
 
-    def __init__(self, api_key: str = None):
+    def __init__(self, api_key: Union[str, None] = None):
         self.api_key = api_key or settings.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
 
     @property
@@ -24,12 +26,10 @@ class Anthropic:
     @property
     def structured_client(self):
         """A client patched with Instructor."""
-        return instructor.from_anthropic(anthropic.Anthropic(api_key=self.api_key))
+        return instructor.from_anthropic(self.client)
 
     def send_conversation(self, conversation: "Conversation"):
         """Send a conversation to the Anthropic API."""
-        from ..models import Message
-
         messages = [
             {"role": msg.role, "content": msg.text} for msg in conversation.messages
         ]
diff --git a/simplemind/providers/groq.py b/simplemind/providers/groq.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..465f428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/simplemind/providers/groq.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+from typing import Union
+
+import groq
+import instructor
+
+from simplemind.models import BaseProvider, Conversation, Message
+from simplemind.settings import settings
+
+PROVIDER_NAME = "groq"
+DEFAULT_MODEL = "llama3-8b-8192"
+
+
+class Groq(BaseProvider):
+    __name__ = PROVIDER_NAME
+    DEFAULT_MODEL = DEFAULT_MODEL
+
+    def __init__(self, api_key: Union[str, None] = None):
+        self.api_key = api_key or settings.GROQ_API_KEY
+
+    @property
+    def client(self):
+        """The raw Groq client."""
+        return groq.Groq(api_key=self.api_key)
+
+    @property
+    def structured_client(self):
+        """A client patched with Instructor."""
+        return instructor.from_groq(self.client)
+
+    def send_conversation(self, conversation: "Conversation"):
+        """Send a conversation to the Groq API."""
+        messages = [
+            {"role": msg.role, "content": msg.text} for msg in conversation.messages
+        ]
+
+        response = self.client.chat.completions.create(
+            model=conversation.llm_model or DEFAULT_MODEL, messages=messages
+        )
+
+        # Get the response content from the Groq response
+        assistant_message = response.choices[0].message
+
+        # Create and return a properly formatted Message instance
+        return Message(
+            role="assistant",
+            text=assistant_message.content,
+            raw=response,
+            llm_model=conversation.llm_model or DEFAULT_MODEL,
+            llm_provider=PROVIDER_NAME,
+        )
diff --git a/simplemind/providers/openai.py b/simplemind/providers/openai.py
index f385d58..4eb2795 100644
--- a/simplemind/providers/openai.py
+++ b/simplemind/providers/openai.py
@@ -1,17 +1,20 @@
-import openai as oa
-import instructor
+from typing import Union
 
-from ..settings import settings
+import instructor
+import openai as oa
+
+from simplemind.models import BaseProvider, Conversation, Message
+from simplemind.settings import settings
 
 PROVIDER_NAME = "openai"
 DEFAULT_MODEL = "gpt-4o-mini"
 
 
-class OpenAI:
+class OpenAI(BaseProvider):
     __name__ = PROVIDER_NAME
     DEFAULT_MODEL = DEFAULT_MODEL
 
-    def __init__(self, api_key: str = None):
+    def __init__(self, api_key: Union[str, None] = None):
         self.api_key = api_key or settings.OPENAI_API_KEY
 
     @property
@@ -21,13 +24,11 @@ class OpenAI:
 
     @property
     def structured_client(self):
-        """A client patched with Instructor."""
-        return instructor.patch(oa.OpenAI(api_key=self.api_key))
+        """A OpenAI client with Instructor."""
+        return instructor.from_openai(self.client)
 
     def send_conversation(self, conversation: "Conversation"):
         """Send a conversation to the OpenAI API."""
-        from ..models import Message
-
         messages = [
             {"role": msg.role, "content": msg.text} for msg in conversation.messages
         ]
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ class OpenAI:
         # Create and return a properly formatted Message instance
         return Message(
             role="assistant",
-            text=assistant_message.content,
+            text=assistant_message.content or "",
             raw=response,
             llm_model=conversation.llm_model or DEFAULT_MODEL,
             llm_provider=PROVIDER_NAME,
diff --git a/simplemind/providers/xai.py b/simplemind/providers/xai.py
index 4451f00..04b9709 100644
--- a/simplemind/providers/xai.py
+++ b/simplemind/providers/xai.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
-import openai as oa
-import instructor
+from typing import Union
 
-# from ..models import Conversation, Message
-from ..settings import settings
+import instructor
+import openai as oa
+
+from simplemind.models import BaseProvider, Conversation, Message
+from simplemind.settings import settings
 
 PROVIDER_NAME = "xai"
 DEFAULT_MODEL = "grok-beta"
@@ -10,11 +12,11 @@ BASE_URL = "https://api.x.ai/v1"
 DEFAULT_MAX_TOKENS = 1000
 
 
-class XAI:
+class XAI(BaseProvider):
     __name__ = PROVIDER_NAME
     DEFAULT_MODEL = DEFAULT_MODEL
 
-    def __init__(self, api_key: str = None):
+    def __init__(self, api_key: Union[str, None] = None):
         self.api_key = api_key or settings.XAI_API_KEY
 
     @property
@@ -29,13 +31,10 @@ class XAI:
     @property
     def structured_client(self):
         """A client patched with Instructor."""
-        return instructor.patch(
-            oa.OpenAI(api_key=self.api_key, base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1")
-        )
+        return instructor.from_openai(self.client)
 
     def send_conversation(self, conversation: "Conversation"):
         """Send a conversation to the OpenAI API."""
-        from ..models import Message
 
         messages = [
             {"role": msg.role, "content": msg.text} for msg in conversation.messages
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ class XAI:
             llm_provider=PROVIDER_NAME,
         )
 
-    def structured_response(self, prompt, response_model, *, llm_model):
+    def structured_response(self, prompt: str, response_model, *, llm_model):
         raise NotImplementedError("XAI does not support structured responses")
 
     def generate_text(self, prompt, *, llm_model):
diff --git a/simplemind/settings.py b/simplemind/settings.py
index 7828508..0c3f319 100644
--- a/simplemind/settings.py
+++ b/simplemind/settings.py
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
 
 
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
-    OPENAI_API_KEY: str = Field(..., env="OPENAI_API_KEY")
     ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: str = Field(..., env="ANTHROPIC_API_KEY")
+    GROQ_API_KEY: str = Field(..., env="GROQ_API_KEY")
+    OPENAI_API_KEY: str = Field(..., env="OPENAI_API_KEY")
     XAI_API_KEY: str = Field(..., env="XAI_API_KEY")