Integrating nRouter into your development workflow takes less than two minutes. With full OpenAI wire specification compatibility, getting started is as simple as creating an account, minting a virtual key, and updating your base URL. This guide walks you through initial onboarding, SDK configuration, smart routing selection, and test inference verification across diverse language runtimes and frameworks.
Complex enterprise software that requires weeks of sales calls, manual provisioning, and specialized SDK installations slows down developer velocity and experimentation with new models.
Managing API credentials across multiple cloud providers can be overwhelming for developers who simply want to test a new foundation model without leaking keys or setting up complex billing.
Ensuring that existing client code handles Server-Sent Events and JSON function calling properly through a new proxy requires quick, verifiable tests and clear diagnostics.
Preventing accidental spending overruns during early development experimentation requires simple, intuitive budget controls that block requests when pre-allocated limits are hit.
Drop-in base URL replacement compatible with official OpenAI, Anthropic, and LangChain SDKs.
Create scoped sk-nrouter-* keys with custom spend limits in seconds via the intuitive dashboard.
Immediate visual verification of request traces, latency breakdowns, and token costs in the console.
Getting started with nRouter requires zero proprietary SDK dependencies. Simply sign up at app.nrouter.ai, fund your balance with Pay as you go ($5 minimum credit purchase, 4% platform fee), and mint your first virtual key. In your application, update your OpenAI client configuration: set baseURL to https://api.nrouter.ai/v1 and your apiKey to your virtual key. You now have instant access to dozens of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta, backed by sub-5ms routing and zero-retention guardrails.
Explore our interactive quickstart tutorials, copy-pasteable code examples, and framework setup guides below.
A step-by-step path from a funded nRouter account to a production LLM call with a spend ceiling on it — create a scoped key, point your existing OpenAI client at one base URL, cap the key, and verify the cost header came back.
An LLM gateway is one endpoint in front of every model provider that owns six cross-cutting jobs — auth, cost, limits, safety, observability and failover. What it does, what happens to a request inside it, and when you need one.
nRouter is a managed LLM gateway. One OpenAI-compatible key reaches every model in your catalog, every response carries its exact cost, and guardrails, budgets, A/B tests and prompt management are on every plan, not gated.
