diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/base.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/base.py
index a1cdeb0d1..275bf2bd0 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/base.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/base.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # necessary to prevent circular import
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, AsyncIterator, Dict
 
+from jupyter_ai.completions.handlers.llm_mixin import LLMHandlerMixin
 from jupyter_ai.completions.models import (
     CompletionError,
     InlineCompletionList,
@@ -12,13 +13,12 @@
     ModelChangedNotification,
 )
 from jupyter_ai.config_manager import ConfigManager, Logger
-from jupyter_ai.llm_handler import BaseLLMHandler
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from jupyter_ai.handlers import InlineCompletionHandler
 
 
-class BaseInlineCompletionHandler(BaseLLMHandler):
+class BaseInlineCompletionHandler(LLMHandlerMixin):
     """Class implementing completion handling."""
 
     handler_kind = "completion"
diff --git a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/llm_handler.py b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/llm_mixin.py
similarity index 91%
rename from packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/llm_handler.py
rename to packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/llm_mixin.py
index bf268e567..a0a3b0505 100644
--- a/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/llm_handler.py
+++ b/packages/jupyter-ai/jupyter_ai/completions/handlers/llm_mixin.py
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@
 from jupyter_ai_magics.providers import BaseProvider
 
 
-class BaseLLMHandler:
+class LLMHandlerMixin:
     """Base class containing shared methods and attributes used by LLM handler classes."""
 
+    # This could be used to derive `BaseChatHandler` too (there is a lot of duplication!),
+    # but it was decided against it to avoid introducing conflicts for backports against 1.x
+
     handler_kind: str
 
     def __init__(