diff --git a/extract_thinker/exceptions.py b/extract_thinker/exceptions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bc52a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extract_thinker/exceptions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+class ExtractThinkerError(Exception):
+    """Base exception class for ExtractThinker."""
+    pass
+
+class VisionError(ExtractThinkerError):
+    """Base class for vision-related errors."""
+    pass
+
+class InvalidVisionDocumentLoaderError(VisionError):
+    """Document loader does not support vision features."""
+    pass
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/extract_thinker/extractor.py b/extract_thinker/extractor.py
index 4e138e9..aae188c 100644
--- a/extract_thinker/extractor.py
+++ b/extract_thinker/extractor.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, IO, Type, Union, get_origin
 from instructor.batch import BatchJob
 import uuid
-import litellm
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 from extract_thinker.llm_engine import LLMEngine
 from extract_thinker.concatenation_handler import ConcatenationHandler
@@ -17,7 +16,6 @@
 from extract_thinker.document_loader.llm_interceptor import LlmInterceptor
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed
 from extract_thinker.batch_job import BatchJob
-
 from extract_thinker.models.completion_strategy import CompletionStrategy
 from extract_thinker.utils import (
     add_classification_structure,
@@ -29,6 +27,11 @@
 from copy import deepcopy
 from extract_thinker.pagination_handler import PaginationHandler
 from instructor.exceptions import IncompleteOutputException
+from extract_thinker.exceptions import (
+    ExtractThinkerError,
+    InvalidVisionDocumentLoaderError
+)
+from extract_thinker.utils import is_vision_error, classify_vision_error
 
 class Extractor:
     BATCH_SUPPORTED_MODELS = [
@@ -161,7 +164,10 @@ def extract(
         self.completion_strategy = completion_strategy
 
         if vision:
-            self._handle_vision_mode(source)
+            try:
+                self._handle_vision_mode(source)
+            except ValueError as e:
+                raise InvalidVisionDocumentLoaderError(str(e))
 
         if completion_strategy is not CompletionStrategy.FORBIDDEN:
             return self.extract_with_strategy(source, response_model, vision, completion_strategy)
@@ -184,7 +190,11 @@ def extract(
         except Exception as e:
             if isinstance(e.args[0], IncompleteOutputException):
                 raise ValueError("Incomplete output received and FORBIDDEN strategy is set") from e
-            raise ValueError(f"Failed to extract from source: {str(e)}")
+            
+            if vision & is_vision_error(e):
+                raise classify_vision_error(e, self.llm.model if self.llm else None)
+            
+            raise ExtractThinkerError(f"Failed to extract from source: {str(e)}")
 
     def _map_to_universal_format(
         self,
@@ -334,11 +344,6 @@ def _build_classification_message_content(self, classifications: List[Classifica
         Returns:
             List of content items (text and images) for the message
         """
-        if not litellm.supports_vision(model=self.llm.model):
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"Model {self.llm.model} is not supported for vision, since it's not a vision model."
-            )
-        
         message_content = []
         for classification in classifications:
             if not classification.image:
@@ -442,9 +447,6 @@ def _classify_one_image_with_ref(
         Classify doc_image_b64 as either matching or not matching
         the classification's reference image. Return name/confidence.
         """
-        if not litellm.supports_vision(model=self.llm.model):
-            raise ValueError(f"Model {self.llm.model} does not support vision images.")
-
         # Convert classification.reference image to base64 if needed:
         if isinstance(ref_image, str) and os.path.isfile(ref_image):
             ref_image_b64 = encode_image(ref_image)
@@ -512,9 +514,6 @@ def _classify_one_image_no_ref(
         Minimal fallback if user didn't provide a reference image
         but we still want a numeric confidence if doc_image matches the classification.
         """
-        if not litellm.supports_vision(model=self.llm.model):
-            raise ValueError(f"Model {self.llm.model} does not support vision images.")
-
         messages = [
             {
                 "role": "system",
@@ -945,11 +944,6 @@ def _extract(
         for interceptor in self.llm_interceptors:
             interceptor.intercept(self.llm)
 
-        if vision and not litellm.supports_vision(model=self.llm.model):
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"Model {self.llm.model} is not supported for vision."
-            )
-
         # Build messages
         messages = self._build_messages(self._build_message_content(content, vision), vision)
 
@@ -1238,13 +1232,7 @@ def _handle_vision_mode(self, source: Union[str, IO, list]) -> None:
             self.document_loader.set_vision_mode(True)
             return
 
-        # No document loader available, check if we can use LLM's vision capabilities
-        if not litellm.supports_vision(self.llm.model):
-            raise ValueError(
-                f"Model {self.llm.model} does not support vision. "
-                "Please provide a document loader or a model that supports vision."
-            )
-    
+        # No document loader available, create a new DocumentLoaderLLMImage
         self.document_loader = DocumentLoaderLLMImage(llm=self.llm)
         self.document_loader.set_vision_mode(True)
 
diff --git a/extract_thinker/image_splitter.py b/extract_thinker/image_splitter.py
index ee2c41d..355e767 100644
--- a/extract_thinker/image_splitter.py
+++ b/extract_thinker/image_splitter.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 import base64
-import litellm
-import instructor
 from io import BytesIO
 from typing import List, Any
 from extract_thinker.models.classification import Classification
@@ -8,14 +6,13 @@
 from extract_thinker.models.doc_groups2 import DocGroups2
 from extract_thinker.models.eager_doc_group import DocGroupsEager, EagerDocGroup
 from extract_thinker.splitter import Splitter
+from extract_thinker.llm import LLM
 
 class ImageSplitter(Splitter):
 
     def __init__(self, model: str):
-        if not litellm.supports_vision(model=model):
-            raise ValueError(f"Model {model} is not supported for ImageSplitter, since its not a vision model.")
         self.model = model
-        self.client = instructor.from_litellm(litellm.completion, mode=instructor.Mode.MD_JSON)
+        self.llm = LLM(model)
 
     def encode_image(self, image):
         """
@@ -97,8 +94,7 @@ def belongs_to_same_document(self,
         })
 
         try:
-            response = self.client.chat.completions.create(
-                model=self.model,
+            response = self.llm.request(
                 messages=[
                     {
                         "role": "user",
@@ -195,8 +191,7 @@ def split_eager_doc_group(self, document: List[dict], classifications: List[Clas
             })
         
         try:
-            response = self.client.chat.completions.create(
-                model=self.model,
+            response = self.llm.request(
                 messages=[
                     {
                         "role": "user",
diff --git a/extract_thinker/models/doc_groups.py b/extract_thinker/models/doc_groups.py
index d17d515..8435d50 100644
--- a/extract_thinker/models/doc_groups.py
+++ b/extract_thinker/models/doc_groups.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 from extract_thinker.models.doc_group import DocGroup
-
-
 from typing import List
 
 
diff --git a/extract_thinker/models/eager_doc_group.py b/extract_thinker/models/eager_doc_group.py
index 32e2504..bc19926 100644
--- a/extract_thinker/models/eager_doc_group.py
+++ b/extract_thinker/models/eager_doc_group.py
@@ -1,16 +1,12 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from typing import List
+from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 @dataclass
 class EagerDocGroup:
     pages: List[str]
     classification: str
 
-
-from typing import List
-from pydantic import BaseModel
-
-
 class DocGroup(BaseModel):
     pages: List[int]
     classification: str
diff --git a/extract_thinker/text_splitter.py b/extract_thinker/text_splitter.py
index 3446e48..2c2cc9f 100644
--- a/extract_thinker/text_splitter.py
+++ b/extract_thinker/text_splitter.py
@@ -1,18 +1,16 @@
-import json
-import instructor
 from typing import List, Any
 from extract_thinker.models.classification import Classification
 from extract_thinker.models.doc_group import DocGroups
 from extract_thinker.models.doc_groups2 import DocGroups2
 from extract_thinker.models.eager_doc_group import DocGroupsEager, EagerDocGroup
 from extract_thinker.splitter import Splitter
-from litellm import completion
+from extract_thinker.llm import LLM
 
 class TextSplitter(Splitter):
 
     def __init__(self, model: str):
         self.model = model
-        self.client = instructor.from_litellm(completion, mode=instructor.Mode.MD_JSON)
+        self.llm = LLM(model)
 
     def belongs_to_same_document(self,
                              obj1: Any,
@@ -55,8 +53,7 @@ def belongs_to_same_document(self,
     }}"""
 
         try:
-            response = self.client.chat.completions.create(
-                model=self.model,
+            response = self.llm.request(
                 messages=[
                     {
                         "role": "user",
@@ -127,8 +124,7 @@ def split_eager_doc_group(self, document: List[dict], classifications: List[Clas
     }}"""
         
         try:
-            response = self.client.chat.completions.create(
-                model=self.model,
+            response = self.llm.request(
                 messages=[
                     {
                         "role": "user",
diff --git a/extract_thinker/utils.py b/extract_thinker/utils.py
index 9f08565..03aa865 100644
--- a/extract_thinker/utils.py
+++ b/extract_thinker/utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import re
 import yaml
 from PIL import Image
+import litellm
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 import typing
 import os
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@
 import sys
 from typing import Optional, Any, Union, get_origin, get_args, List, Dict
 from pydantic import BaseModel, create_model
+from extract_thinker.exceptions import VisionError
 
 def encode_image(image_source: Union[str, BytesIO, bytes, Image.Image]) -> str:
     """
@@ -535,4 +537,27 @@ def extract_thinking_json(thinking_text: str, response_model: type[BaseModel]) -
     except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
         raise ValueError(f"Invalid JSON format: {str(e)}\nJSON string was: {json_str}")
     except Exception as e:
-        raise ValueError(f"Failed to parse thinking output: {str(e)}\nInput text was: {thinking_text[:200]}...")
\ No newline at end of file
+        raise ValueError(f"Failed to parse thinking output: {str(e)}\nInput text was: {thinking_text[:200]}...")
+
+def is_vision_error(error: Exception) -> bool:
+    if isinstance(error.args[0], litellm.BadRequestError):
+        return True
+    return False
+
+def classify_vision_error(e: Exception, vision: bool) -> None:
+    """
+    Examines the exception and, if the vision flag is set and the exception is of type
+    litellm.BadRequestError, re-raises it as a VisionError. Otherwise, it re-raises the original exception.
+    
+    Args:
+        e: The caught exception.
+        vision: A flag indicating that this was a vision-related operation.
+    
+    Raises:
+        VisionError: if vision is True and e is an instance of litellm.BadRequestError.
+        Otherwise, re-raises e.
+    """
+    if vision and isinstance(e.args[0], litellm.BadRequestError):
+        raise VisionError(f"Make sure that the model you're using supports vision features: {e.args[0].message}") from e
+    else:
+        raise e
\ No newline at end of file