Quickstart

Every call goes to https://api.routehook.ai/v1, carries an API key in the Authorization header and draws against a prepaid balance. If your code already talks to an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, the integration is two lines: the base URL and the key.

Four steps

1. 01
   Create an account and add credits

   There is no free tier and no trial balance. A key with nothing behind it answers 402 insufficient_credits on its first call. The smallest top-up is $5, and credits spend across every live model.

2. 02
   Mint a key

   Keys are created in the dashboard and shown once. Copy it straight into a secret manager or an environment variable. Choose live or test at creation; a key's environment cannot be changed afterwards.

3. 03
   Make the call

   Point an OpenAI client at the base URL, or send the JSON yourself. model takes a slug from GET /v1/models.

4. 04
   Read what it cost

   The response headers report what the call cost and how it went. GET /v1/credits shows the balance after it.

Set the key

export ROUTEHOOK_API_KEY="sk_live_..."

The one-line switch

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: "https://api.routehook.ai/v1",
  apiKey: process.env.ROUTEHOOK_API_KEY,
});

const completion = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Name three uses for a gateway." }],
});

console.log(completion.choices[0].message.content);

The model field is a slug

model is a catalogue slug (openai/gpt-4o-mini, anthropic/claude-sonnet-4) not a bare vendor model name. GET /v1/models lists every slug with its category, status and rate, and needs no key, so a model picker can read it straight from a browser. A slug nothing can serve right now answers 409 model_unavailable rather than quietly routing somewhere else.

The same call, without an SDK

curl https://api.routehook.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROUTEHOOK_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
    "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Name three uses for a gateway." }]
  }'

What the call cost, and how it went

The body is OpenAI's, so the charge is not in it. That goes in the response headers, and -i on the request above shows them. They matter because a retry is otherwise invisible: a request that failed over reads as an ordinary 200, and these headers are the only place that shows. None of them names the host that answered, which upstream serves a call is not something this API reports.

Watch the balance move

One route reports the money side of the account. balance is settled cash, held is what requests in flight have reserved against it, and available is what the next request may spend, which is why a call can be refused while the balance still looks healthy.

Let an agent wire it up

Working in Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI? Paste the command below. It points the agent at /llms.txt: the whole integration written for a machine: base URL, auth header, where model slugs come from, every error code and which of them are worth retrying.

Where to next