OpenRouter Install & Auth

Overview

Set up OpenRouter API credentials, configure the OpenAI-compatible client, verify authentication, and check credit balance. OpenRouter keys start with sk-or-v1- and authenticate against https://openrouter.ai/api/v1.

Prerequisites

• OpenRouter account (free at openrouter.ai)
• Python 3.8+ or Node.js 18+
• OpenAI SDK (pip install openai or npm install openai)

Instructions

1. Generate an API Key

1. Go to openrouter.ai/keys
2. Click Create Key, name it (e.g., my-app-dev)
3. Copy the sk-or-v1-... value immediately (shown only once)
4. Optionally set a credit limit on the key for spend control