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An AI API key lets your app call models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and more with a single key. Keys are issued by OpenRouter, our AI provider, and paid for from your prepaid AI wallet. No OpenRouter account or foreign card needed.

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Add money

Open the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar, choose Settings, then Billing. The AI wallet is there. The wallet is prepaid. When the balance runs out, your keys stop working until you add more, and nothing is ever charged afterwards.
Top-ups are non-refundable, including any balance you haven’t used, except where the law requires a refund. See section 8 of the Terms of Service.

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Create a key

Click API keys in the sidebar, give the key a name, and click Create key.
  • Add it to an app, and we save the key into that app’s environment as OPENROUTER_API_KEY. Redeploy the app and it can use it, with nothing to copy.
  • Don’t add it to an app, and the key is shown once in a popup. Copy it then: we don’t store it and can’t show it again.

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Use a key

Any OpenAI-compatible client works. Point it at OpenRouter’s base URL and pick a model by its OpenRouter id:
Your app talks to OpenRouter directly. We never see what it sends to the models or what comes back; OpenRouter only tells us how much each key spent.

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How spending limits work

All of your keys share your wallet, and together they can never spend more than it holds. Once a minute, the balance is split across your keys, weighted towards the ones you’re actively using. If a key gets a 403 Key limit exceeded while your wallet still has money, it usually needs a minute for its share to catch up. A busy app does best with one key rather than several.

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Paused keys

We may pause every AI key for a safety check, for example if spending suddenly rises sharply. While paused, keys don’t work and no new keys or top-ups can be made. Your balance is kept.

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Revoke a key

Click Revoke next to it in the list. It stops working immediately. If it was saved into an app, the variable stays in that app’s environment but no longer works.

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From an agent

The secret is returned only in the POST response. A project key can only create keys for its own application. Agents can’t add money: if the wallet is empty, give the user the topUpUrl from GET /api/v1/ai and wait for them.