OpenRouter

OpenRouter doesn't make AI models — it's a router, a single front door to models from lots of different makers. One account, one key, one balance, and suddenly you can reach Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, and a long tail of more unusual models without juggling five separate sign-ups. If you're the curious type who likes trying new brains, this is the easiest way to taste them all.

What you'll need

• An OpenRouter account at openrouter.ai.
• A payment method. OpenRouter runs on a prepaid balance — you top it up with a card, and every message you send draws it down.
• HolaClaw installed on your Mac.

Setup takes about five minutes.

How OpenRouter works

Normally each AI maker — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and so on — wants its own account, its own key, and its own bill. OpenRouter sits in front of all of them. You pay OpenRouter, OpenRouter pays the makers, and you only ever manage one login and one balance.

That convenience costs a little. Your message takes an extra hop through OpenRouter on its way to the real model, and OpenRouter adds a small markup on top of each maker's own prices. In exchange you get one tidy balance instead of a pile of separate accounts. For someone who wants to experiment widely, that's usually a fair trade.

Tip — OpenRouter shines as a second provider. Keep your main, everyday assistant on a provider you already trust. Then create a separate experiment assistant on OpenRouter to try out exotic models without disturbing your daily setup. A model in HolaClaw is chosen per assistant when you create it, so "experimenting" means spinning up a new assistant — not swapping the brain of an existing one.

Get your API key

OpenRouter connects to HolaClaw with an API key — a long secret code that proves a request comes from your account. Treat it like a password: anyone who has it can spend your balance.

1. Sign in at openrouter.ai.
2. Go to the Keys page and create a new key. Give it a name you'll recognize later, like "HolaClaw".
3. Copy the key right away and keep it somewhere safe. If you ever lose it, just create a new one.
4. Add some funds on the Credits page if your balance is empty. Without credits, every request fails even though the key itself is valid.

Connect it to your assistant

You pick the provider while creating an assistant, in Step 2 · Model provider — the screen that says "Connect the brain behind your assistant."

1. In HolaClaw, start the Create Assistant flow and go to Step 2.
2. Choose OpenRouter in the provider sidebar.
3. Paste your key into the OpenRouter API Key field. It's masked like a password, which is normal.
4. Pick a model (more on that below) and continue with the rest of the setup.

As the app says right below the key field: "Your credentials stay on your Mac — we never send them anywhere." The key is stored inside the assistant's private virtual machine on your Mac. HolaClaw's servers never see it, and OpenRouter bills you directly — HolaClaw adds nothing on top.

Choosing a model

This is where OpenRouter earns its keep. The model list in HolaClaw is long — more than fifteen options spanning the big names (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI) and plenty of less-common ones like DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM, MiniMax, Qwen, MiMo, and Gemma.

You'll notice the names look a little different here — something like x-ai/grok-4.3 or anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6. Don't let that throw you. The part before the slash is simply who made the model, and the part after is the model itself. So x-ai/grok-4.3 is xAI's Grok 4.3, reached through OpenRouter.

Our recommended pick is Grok 4.3 (via OpenRouter) — a strong, characterful all-rounder and a good first taste of what routing makes easy. But the whole point of OpenRouter is choice: if you've been curious about a model you can't find elsewhere, this is the place to meet it.

Heads-up — prices vary by model. Because OpenRouter spans many makers, there's no single price tag. A frontier flagship costs far more per message than a small, fast model. The in-app list and the OpenRouter site show each model's rate, so glance at that before you commit an assistant to an expensive one.

What it costs

OpenRouter charges per token — roughly a short word or word-fragment of text. Every message you send and every reply your assistant writes uses some, and your prepaid balance ticks down accordingly. There's no monthly fee: you pay only for what you use.

The catch with a router is that "what it costs" depends entirely on which model you point it at, plus OpenRouter's small markup. A chatty assistant on a cheap model is pennies; the same conversation on a top-tier flagship costs noticeably more. Top up your balance with a card at openrouter.ai/credits, and check current per-model rates there rather than here — they change.

Troubleshooting

When something goes wrong with the connection, HolaClaw shows a banner in the chat explaining what happened. Here's what each one means:

• "OpenRouter is out of credits" — your prepaid balance hit zero. Top up at openrouter.ai/credits and your assistant resumes on the next message.
• "OpenRouter API key is invalid, expired, or out of credits" — the key was revoked, mistyped, or the account can't pay. Create a fresh key at openrouter.ai/keys and update it in the assistant's settings, or top up your balance.
• "OpenRouter rate limit or quota reached" — requests are going out faster than your account allows. Wait a little and try again.
• "OpenRouter is currently unreachable" — OpenRouter's servers are having a moment. This can also mean the maker behind the specific model you chose is down, since your request passes through to them. Trying a different model often gets you going again right away.

Still stuck? The HolaClaw Discord is a friendly place to ask.

Next steps

Not sure OpenRouter is the right fit? Compare every option in Choosing an AI provider. If you'd rather go straight to a single maker, see the guides for Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Grok, and DeepSeek — or keep it all on your Mac with local models. And whatever you pick, the HolaClaw Discord is there if you need a hand.