refactor: Remove redundant backup file

[Chesars]

Title

Remove redundant backup file for model pricing

Relevant issues

Closes #16460

Pre-Submission checklist

Please complete all items before asking a LiteLLM maintainer to review your PR

• I have Added testing in the tests/litellm/ directory, Adding at least 1 test is a hard
  requirement - see details
• I have added a screenshot of my new test passing locally
• My PR passes all unit tests on make test-unit
• My PR's scope is as isolated as possible, it only solves 1 specific problem

Type

🧹 Refactoring

Changes

Summary

Removed the redundant litellm/model_prices_and_context_window_backup.json file and refactored the codebase to use a single source of truth for model pricing data.

• Maintained duplicate files: model_prices_and_context_window.json (root) and litellm/model_prices_and_context_window_backup.json
• Required manual syncing via PRs like Add moonshot/kimi-k2-thinking to backup pricing map #16460 whenever models were added/updated
• Violated DRY principle

Solution

• Removed litellm/model_prices_and_context_window_backup.json (24,718 lines deleted)
• Refactored get_model_cost_map() to read from single source:
  • Development: Reads from project root model_prices_and_context_window.json
  • Production: Reads from package resources (copied by CI during publish)
• Updated CI/CD:
  • .circleci/config.yml: Changed to copy main file to package before publish
  • .github/workflows/simple_pypi_publish.yml: Same approach
  • ci_cd/check_files_match.py: Updated file paths
• Updated tests: Renamed and refactored test_get_local_model_cost_map()

How it works

1. Development: Code reads model_prices_and_context_window.json from project root
2. CI/CD: Before publishing to PyPI, copies file to litellm/ directory
3. Production: Users get file bundled in package after pip install litellm

Benefits

• ✅ Single source of truth for model pricing
• ✅ No need for sync PRs like Add moonshot/kimi-k2-thinking to backup pricing map #16460
• ✅ Simpler maintenance and fewer merge conflicts
• ✅ Works in both development and production environments

Testing

• ✅ Local mode works: LITELLM_LOCAL_MODEL_COST_MAP=True
• ✅ Fallback works when GitHub download fails
• ✅ All existing tests pass
• ✅ Loads 1,743 models successfully

✓ Loaded successfully
Models count: 1743

Tests passing:
tests/local_testing/test_get_model_file.py::test_get_local_model_cost_map PASSED
tests/local_testing/test_get_model_file.py::test_get_model_cost_map PASSED
tests/test_litellm/test_cost_calculator.py::test_cost_calculator_with_usage PASSED

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[Chesars]

@greptile review commit 88ee7c5

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR eliminates the long-standing dual-file maintenance burden by removing litellm/model_prices_and_context_window_backup.json and refactoring get_model_cost_map.py to load from a single canonical file — first attempting package resources (production), then falling back to the project root (development). CI/CD pipelines are updated to copy the root-level JSON into the litellm/ package directory only at publish time, and the now-redundant check_files_match.py pre-commit hook is removed.

• Core loading logic (get_model_cost_map.py): load_local_model_cost_map() now uses importlib.resources.files().joinpath().read_text() (the modern, non-deprecated API) with a project-root fallback via pathlib.Path. All internal naming updated from _backup_* → _local_*.
• CI/CD (.circleci/config.yml, simple_pypi_publish.yml): cp destination updated from litellm/model_prices_and_context_window_backup.json → litellm/model_prices_and_context_window.json.
• .gitignore: litellm/model_prices_and_context_window.json correctly added on its own line (missing trailing newline on the previous last line was also fixed).
• Pre-commit hook removed: ci_cd/check_files_match.py deleted and its hook entry removed from .pre-commit-config.yaml.
• Tests updated: test_get_backup_model_cost_map replaced with test_get_local_model_cost_map which now exercises the actual production loading path. _load_backup_json() in test_deepseek_model_metadata.py renamed to _load_model_cost_json() and delegates to GetModelCostMap.load_local_model_cost_map().
• Minor: Three imports (traceback, importlib.resources, json) are now unused in tests/local_testing/test_get_model_file.py after the test was rewritten and should be removed.

Confidence Score: 4/5

• This PR is safe to merge — the refactor is well-scoped, CI/CD and .gitignore are correctly updated, and the only remaining open items are narrow exception handling (already flagged in prior review rounds) and a trivial unused-import cleanup.
• The single-source-of-truth goal is cleanly achieved. The loading path logic is correct for both development and production environments. All previously raised concerns about .gitignore (broken newline), the pre-commit hook breaking developer commits, and the stale _load_backup_json name have been addressed in this PR. The remaining exception-handling narrowness (FileNotFoundError, ModuleNotFoundError only) was flagged in prior threads and does not block merging. The only new finding is three unused imports — a trivially fixable style issue.
• litellm/litellm_core_utils/get_model_cost_map.py — exception handling in load_local_model_cost_map() remains narrow (pre-existing open issue); tests/local_testing/test_get_model_file.py — three unused imports to clean up.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
litellm/litellm_core_utils/get_model_cost_map.py	Core loading logic refactored to try package resources first, then fall back to project root. Exception handling remains narrow (FileNotFoundError, ModuleNotFoundError only) — remaining open concerns from previous threads.
tests/local_testing/test_get_model_file.py	Test now correctly exercises the production loading path via GetModelCostMap.load_local_model_cost_map(). Three imports (traceback, importlib.resources, json) are now unused and should be removed.
tests/test_litellm/test_deepseek_model_metadata.py	_load_backup_json() renamed to _load_model_cost_json() and now delegates to GetModelCostMap.load_local_model_cost_map(). Tests are equivalent in coverage with a cleaner loading path.
.gitignore	Properly adds litellm/model_prices_and_context_window.json on a new line (the missing trailing newline from the original file was fixed). Both patterns are now valid.
.pre-commit-config.yaml	Correctly removes the now-unnecessary check-files-match pre-commit hook alongside the deletion of ci_cd/check_files_match.py.
ci_cd/check_files_match.py	File deleted as expected — the sync check is no longer needed with a single source of truth.
.circleci/config.yml	CI step updated to copy model_prices_and_context_window.json → litellm/model_prices_and_context_window.json before publish instead of the old backup filename.
.github/workflows/simple_pypi_publish.yml	GitHub Actions publish workflow updated in lockstep with CircleCI — copies to the new canonical package path.

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[get_model_cost_map called] --> B{LITELLM_LOCAL_MODEL_COST_MAP=True?}
    B -- Yes --> C[load_local_model_cost_map]
    B -- No --> D[fetch_remote_model_cost_map URL]
    D -- Network error --> C
    D -- Success --> E{validate_model_cost_map}
    E -- Fail --> C
    E -- Pass --> F[Return remote map + expand aliases]
    C --> G{Try: importlib.resources\nfiles litellm .joinpath\nmodel_prices_and_context_window.json}
    G -- FileNotFoundError /\nModuleNotFoundError --> H[Fallback: Path __file__ .parent.parent.parent\nmodel_prices_and_context_window.json]
    G -- Success --> I[Return package resource map]
    H --> J[Return project-root map]
    I --> K[expand_model_aliases + return]
    J --> K

Loading

Comments Outside Diff (1)

1. tests/local_testing/test_get_model_file.py, line 1-3 (link)

   Stale imports left behind after refactor

   After removing test_get_backup_model_cost_map, three top-level imports are now unused: traceback, importlib.resources, and json. The new test_get_local_model_cost_map only uses a locally-scoped from litellm... import. Linters (e.g. flake8 F401) will warn on these.

_{Last reviewed commit: "Merge remote-trackin..."}

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
litellm	Ready	Preview, Comment	Mar 22, 2026 2:58am

[codspeed-hq]

Merging this PR will not alter performance

✅ 16 untouched benchmarks

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_{Comparing Chesars:refactor/remove-backup-file-dry-principle (556a1ae) with main (f5194b5)}