OpenRouter

One key, many models — useful if you want to switch between providers without managing multiple accounts.

What this is

OpenRouter is a router service that sits in front of many AI providers. With one OpenRouter key, your agent can talk to Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, Llama, and dozens of other models — without you signing up with each provider individually. Useful if you want to experiment with different models, or you want a single bill instead of three.

The trade-off: cost is a little less obvious than going direct to a provider, because each model has its own per-token rate and you're choosing from a long list.

Steps

  1. Go to openrouter.ai and sign in (or create an account).
  2. Add credits. OpenRouter is pay-as-you-go — you load up a balance, and your usage draws it down.
  3. Open Keys in the OpenRouter dashboard and click Create Key. Give it a name like "Beach".
  4. Copy the key. It starts with sk-or-…. You'll only see it once — copy it carefully.
  5. Open Beach Settings and find the AI Provider section.
  6. Choose OpenRouter, paste your key, and save.

Your agent will use OpenRouter on its next message, and OpenRouter will route the request to whichever model your agent is configured to use.

Common pitfalls

  • Whitespace when pasting. A trailing space or newline will make the key look invalid. Double-check before saving.
  • Out of credits. OpenRouter requires a positive balance. If your balance hits zero your agent will fail until you top up.
  • Cost surprises. Different models cost very different amounts. If you're swapping models often, glance at the per-token rate on openrouter.ai before committing to one.

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