OpenAI-Compatible API

AkaRouter provides an OpenAI-compatible API. If your SDK supports a custom baseURL, you usually only need to replace the Base URL and API key.

Base URL

https://api.akarouter.com/v1

Do not use the console URL, documentation URL, payment URL, or a full endpoint path as the API Base URL.

Node.js

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: process.env.AKAROUTER_API_KEY,
  baseURL: "https://api.akarouter.com/v1"
});

const completion = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: process.env.AKAROUTER_MODEL,
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Give me one concise onboarding tip." }]
});

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

Read AKAROUTER_API_KEY and AKAROUTER_MODEL from server-side environment variables. Do not hard-code them in source code.

Python

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ["AKAROUTER_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://api.akarouter.com/v1",
)

completion = client.chat.completions.create(
    model=os.environ["AKAROUTER_MODEL"],
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Give me one concise onboarding tip."}],
)

print(completion.choices[0].message.content)

curl

curl https://api.akarouter.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AKAROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "'"$AKAROUTER_MODEL"'",
    "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "ping" }]
  }'

Integration Tips

• Read AKAROUTER_API_KEY on the server side. Do not expose it in the browser.
• Use the model names shown on the Model Status page in the console.
• Retry timeouts briefly, but do not retry forever.
• Use exponential backoff for 429, 502, 503, and 504 responses.
• For 401, 402, and 403 responses, check your key, balance, and account access before retrying.

Reading the Response

A successful chat completion response includes choices. With the OpenAI SDK, the content is usually available here:

completion.choices[0]?.message?.content

If the response is not 200, follow the status-code guidance in Common Errors.