Easy OpenRouter

Quickly test LLM models and find the best one for your task.

Prerequisites

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-v1-xxxx"

Quick Model Testing

Use scripts/call_openrouter.sh:

# Basic test
bash scripts/call_openrouter.sh \
  --model "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4" \
  --prompt "Explain quantum computing in one sentence" \
  --json

# With parameters
bash scripts/call_openrouter.sh \
  --model "openai/gpt-4o" \
  --prompt "Write a haiku about code" \
  --max-tokens 100 \
  --temperature 0.7 \
  --json

Output includes: response time (ms), cost ($), token usage, full response

Parameters:

• --model: Model ID (required)
• --prompt: Prompt text (required)
• --system: System prompt (optional)
• --max-tokens: Max tokens
• --temperature: Temperature 0.0-2.0
• --json: JSON output

Model Naming Format

provider/model-name[:modifier]

Common models:

• anthropic/claude-sonnet-4
• openai/gpt-4o
• openai/gpt-4o-mini
• google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
• deepseek/deepseek-chat

Modifiers:

• :nitro - Use fastest provider
• :online - Enable web search
• Combinable: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4:nitro:online

Find Optimal Models

Find Best Model by Category (Rankings)

https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=<category>#categories

Category	URL
Programming	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=programming#categories
Translation	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=translation#categories
Science	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=science#categories
Finance	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=finance#categories
Legal	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=legal#categories
Academia	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=academia#categories
Marketing	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=marketing#categories
SEO	https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=marketing/seo#categories

Find Provider by Performance/Price

https://openrouter.ai/<model-slug>/providers?sort=<sort>

Sort options:

• throughput - By throughput (tokens/sec)
• latency - By latency
• price - By price

Example: Find fastest provider for claude-sonnet-4

https://openrouter.ai/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4/providers?sort=throughput

Get Full Model List

curl -s https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
  | jq '.data | sort_by(.pricing.prompt) | .[:10] | .[].id'
# Output: top 10 cheapest models

Typical Workflows

1. Quick Model Comparison

# Test Claude
bash scripts/call_openrouter.sh --model "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4" --prompt "Explain microservices architecture" --json > claude.json

# Test GPT-4o
bash scripts/call_openrouter.sh --model "openai/gpt-4o" --prompt "Explain microservices architecture" --json > gpt4o.json

# Compare results
jq -s '[.[0], .[1]] | map({model, response_time_ms, cost})' claude.json gpt4o.json

2. Find Best Model for Programming Tasks

1. Open https://openrouter.ai/rankings?category=programming#categories
2. Note the top-ranked models
3. Test actual performance with the script

3. Choose Model for Chainlit Demo

Considerations:

• For demos: Prioritize speed → use :nitro modifier
• Cost-sensitive: Use gpt-4o-mini or deepseek-chat
• Quality-first: Use claude-sonnet-4 or gpt-4o

Advanced

For API details, query OpenRouter documentation via Context7.