OpenRouter

OpenRouter is a unified API gateway that provides access to hundreds of AI models from leading providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI, and more. One API key gives you access to the full catalog.

Personas that use the openrouter provider send requests to https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 with slash-delimited model ids, for example openai/gpt-5.6-luna or anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6.

Get an API key

Easiest path: use Toby’s guided setup (Dashboard onboarding Connect → OpenRouter, or Settings → AI → OpenRouter → Guided setup). The wizard opens OpenRouter and the Keys page, then validates and saves your key.

Manual steps:

1. Sign in at openrouter.ai.
2. Open Keys (or go to openrouter.ai/keys).
3. Create a new API key and copy it.

Store the key in Toby, not in shell profiles or committed files.

Configure in Toby

1. Guided setup: Dashboard checklist → Configure AI provider → Connect → OpenRouter, or Settings → AI → OpenRouter → Guided setup. Toby validates the key and sets the built-in Toby persona to openrouter / openai/gpt-5.6-luna.
2. Manual: Settings → AI → OpenRouter → API Key, paste your key, then set a persona’s AI Provider to openrouter.

Toby writes the key to ~/.toby/credentials.json.

You can also set OPENROUTER_API_KEY in your environment instead of storing a key in credentials.

For any persona, set AI Provider to openrouter, then pick a model from the list or enter a custom model id.

Transcription (speech-to-text)

OpenRouter also supports speech-to-text. In Toby, open Settings → Transcription, choose OpenRouter as the provider, and pick an STT model. The model list is loaded from OpenRouter’s catalog (output_modalities=transcription) and reuses your OpenRouter chat API key when no dedicated transcription key is set.

See Transcription for setup details.

Model catalog

OpenRouter exposes a public model catalog at GET /v1/models. Toby fetches the live list automatically, even before you configure an API key, so you can browse available models in the persona editor without signing up first.

The catalog includes model names, context window sizes, pricing, and supported features. If the catalog cannot be reached, Toby falls back to a curated default list.

Recommended models

OpenRouter offers hundreds of models. These are popular choices for Toby's chat, tool use, summarization, and schedules.

Everyday chat

Model	Role
openai/gpt-5.6-luna	Fast, cost-efficient OpenAI model for high-volume chat. Default auxiliary model for OpenRouter.
openai/gpt-5.6-terra	Balanced OpenAI model for everyday coding and reasoning.
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6	Strong all-rounder with long context and careful tool use.
google/gemini-3-flash	Fast Google option for quick turns.

Higher quality

Model	Role
openai/gpt-5.6-sol	Flagship OpenAI model for complex reasoning and agentic workflows.
anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5	Fast Anthropic model for triage-style work.
google/gemini-3-pro	Heavier Google model for complex requests.

Open-weight models

Model	Role
meta-llama/llama-4-maverick	Meta's larger Llama 4 variant for general-purpose work.
deepseek/deepseek-v3.2	Cost-effective reasoning-oriented open-weight model.
xai/grok-4	xAI model for experiments or comparison.

Use Custom model in the persona editor for any model listed on OpenRouter that Toby does not show in the picker.

App attribution

Toby sends optional app attribution headers on OpenRouter requests:

Header	Default
HTTP-Referer	https://github.com/kshehadeh/toby
X-Title	Toby

Override with TOBY_AI_GATEWAY_REFERER / AI_GATEWAY_HTTP_REFERER or TOBY_AI_GATEWAY_APP_TITLE / AI_GATEWAY_X_TITLE.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	API key instead of configure-stored credentials
TOBY_PRETREAT_MODEL	Override the pretreatment model (e.g. openai/gpt-5.6-luna)
TOBY_PRETREAT_DELTA	Set to 0 to disable follow-up delta pretreatment

See also

• AI providers overview
• Chutes — another open-source model provider
• Personas