openrouter-install-auth

name	openrouter-install-auth
description	Set up OpenRouter API authentication and configure API keys. Use when starting a new OpenRouter integration, rotating keys, or troubleshooting auth issues. Triggers: 'openrouter setup', 'openrouter api key', 'configure openrouter auth', 'sk-or key'.
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Bash(python3:*), Bash(node:*), Bash(pip:*), Bash(npm:*)
version	1.20.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
tags	["saas","openrouter","api","authentication","setup"]
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code, also compatible with Codex and OpenClaw

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

2. Configure Environment

# .env file (add .env to .gitignore!)
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key-here

# Or export directly
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-your-key-here"

3. Initialize the Client

Python:

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["OPENROUTER_API_KEY"],
    default_headers={
        "HTTP-Referer": "https://your-app.com",  # For analytics attribution
        "X-Title": "Your App Name",               # Shows in dashboard
    },
)

TypeScript:

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: ,
  : process..,
  : {
    : ,
    : ,
  },
});