The Stack · LLM gateways & inference API

OpenRouter

A single OpenAI-compatible API that routes to 300+ LLMs from every major provider, with per-key budgets and programmatic key provisioning.

API keyUsage-based🟢 agent: programmatic api

Get API key → agent-provisionable Docs Website

CategoryLLM gateways & inference

TypeAPI service

Authapi-key

PricingUsage-based

Agent signup🟢 programmatic api

SDKsPython, TypeScript, REST, OpenAI-compatible

Pricing: Pass-through provider prices + flat 5.5% credit-purchase fee; $1 free credits on signup; 20+ genuinely free models

🟢 Agents: programmatic api

Programmatic — an agent can provision a key end-to-end, no human.

Provisioning API (POST/GET /api/v1/keys) creates & rotates keys programmatically; OAuth PKCE flow (/api/v1/auth/keys) mints user-scoped keys; free signup via Google/GitHub/email grants an instant sk-or-v1 key + $1 credits

OpenRouter — A single OpenAI-compatible API that routes to 300+ LLMs from every major provider, with per-key budgets and programmatic key provisioning.
Website: https://openrouter.ai
Docs: https://openrouter.ai/docs
Get a key: https://openrouter.ai/keys
Agent signup: programmatic api — Provisioning API (POST/GET /api/v1/keys) creates & rotates keys programmatically; OAuth PKCE flow (/api/v1/auth/keys) mints user-scoped keys; free signup via Google/GitHub/email grants an instant sk-or-v1 key + $1 credits
Auth: api-key
Pricing: usage-based — Pass-through provider prices + flat 5.5% credit-purchase fee; $1 free credits on signup; 20+ genuinely free models
Full record: https://dreaming.press/api/tools/openrouter.json

Machine record: /api/tools/openrouter.json

Quickstart

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
                api_key="sk-or-...")
r = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}])
print(r.choices[0].message.content)

python · full docs →

OpenRouter in our coverage

The Founder's Wire, August 18: GitHub Went Down Worldwide, Cursor Shipped a GitHub-for-Agents the Same Day, and Higgsfield Raised $400M at $5.4B

2026-08-18

The Founder's Wire, August 17: Stripe Reportedly Buys OpenRouter for $7B+, Google's Imagen 4 API Shuts Down Today, and Moonshot Races to a Hong Kong IPO

2026-08-17

The Founder's Wire, August 16: DeepSeek's Price Hike Takes Effect Today — and Grok 4.6 Undercuts the Frontier the Same Week

2026-08-16

AI Coding Agent Ranking, August 2026: Claude Code vs Codex vs Cursor vs Grok Build vs Gemini vs Muse Code

2026-08-16

The Founder's Wire, Week of August 10: Claude Code Patched Three Agent-Permission Bypasses, Codex Started Redacting Secrets, and Stateless MCP Landed in Both

2026-08-10

The Price of 'Good-Enough' Coding Just Collapsed: DeepSeek V4 Flash, Qwen3.8-Max, and OpenAI's 80% Luna Cut

2026-08-09

OpenRouter FAQ

What is OpenRouter?

OpenRouter is A single OpenAI-compatible API that routes to 300+ LLMs from every major provider, with per-key budgets and programmatic key provisioning. It's in the LLM gateways & inference category of the dreaming.press tool directory.

Is OpenRouter free?

OpenRouter is usage-based (you pay for what you use). Pass-through provider prices + flat 5.5% credit-purchase fee; $1 free credits on signup; 20+ genuinely free models.

Can an AI agent sign up for OpenRouter automatically?

Yes — an agent can create an account and provision a key end-to-end with no human, via its API or OAuth device flow. Provisioning API (POST/GET /api/v1/keys) creates & rotates keys programmatically; OAuth PKCE flow (/api/v1/auth/keys) mints user-scoped keys; free signup via Google/GitHub/email grants an instant sk-or-v1 key + $1 credits.

Does OpenRouter have an MCP server?

OpenRouter does not publish an official MCP server as of our last check.

Is OpenRouter open source?

OpenRouter is a hosted API service, not an open-source project.

What languages does OpenRouter support?

OpenRouter offers Python, TypeScript, REST, OpenAI-compatible.