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OpenRouter provides access to a wide variety of cutting-edge models through a unified API, including models like DeepSeek, Claude, GPT-4, and many others that may not be available through standard providers.

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Setting Up OpenRouter as a Custom Provider

To use OpenRouter models in PromptLayer:
  1. Get an OpenRouter API Key: Sign up at OpenRouter and obtain your API key from their dashboard
  2. Navigate to Settings → Custom Providers and Models in your PromptLayer dashboard
  3. Click Create Custom Provider
  4. Configure the provider with the following details:
    • Name: OpenRouter
    • Client: OpenAI (OpenRouter uses OpenAI-compatible endpoints)
    • Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
    • API Key: Your OpenRouter API key
For easier model selection in the Playground and Prompt Registry, you can save specific OpenRouter models:
  1. In Settings → Custom Providers and Models, find your OpenRouter provider in the list
  2. Click on the OpenRouter row to expand it
  3. Click Create Custom Model in the expanded section
  4. Configure each model:
    • Model Name: Enter the OpenRouter model identifier (e.g., deepseek/deepseek-chat, anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet)
    • Display Name: A friendly name like “DeepSeek Chat” or “Claude 3.5 Sonnet”
    • Model Type: Chat
  5. Repeat for each model you want to use
The full list of available models can be found in OpenRouter’s documentation.

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Available Models

OpenRouter regularly updates their model offerings and provides access to many providers. Example models include:
  • deepseek/deepseek-chat: DeepSeek’s latest chat model
  • anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet: Claude 3.5 Sonnet via OpenRouter
  • openai/gpt-4-turbo: GPT-4 Turbo via OpenRouter
  • google/gemini-pro-1.5: Gemini Pro 1.5 via OpenRouter
  • meta-llama/llama-3.1-405b: Llama 3.1 405B via OpenRouter
For the complete and up-to-date list of available models, visit OpenRouter’s models documentation.

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Using OpenRouter in PromptLayer

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In the Playground

After setup, you can use OpenRouter models in the PromptLayer Playground:
  1. Open the Playground
  2. Select your OpenRouter provider from the provider dropdown
  3. Choose your desired model (or type the model identifier)
  4. Start querying with your prompts

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In the Prompt Registry

OpenRouter models work seamlessly with PromptLayer’s Prompt Registry:
  • Select OpenRouter models when creating or editing prompt templates
  • Use templates with OpenRouter models in evaluations
  • Track and analyze OpenRouter API usage alongside other providers

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Key Benefits

OpenRouter provides:
  • Wide Model Selection: Access to models from multiple providers through one API
  • Automatic Rate Limiting and Failover: OpenRouter handles rate limiting between providers
  • Cost Optimization: Compare pricing across different models and providers
  • Model Availability: Access to models that might not be directly available in your region

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SDK Usage

Once you’ve set up your OpenRouter custom provider and created a prompt template in the dashboard, you can run it programmatically with the PromptLayer SDK: 
from promptlayer import PromptLayer

promptlayer = PromptLayer(api_key="pl_****")

# Run a prompt template that uses your OpenRouter custom provider
response = promptlayer.run(
    prompt_name="your-openrouter-prompt",
    input_variables={"query": "your input"}
)

# Access the response
print(response["raw_response"].choices[0].message.content)

# The request is automatically logged with request_id
print(f"Request ID: {response['request_id']}")
Using promptlayer.run() ensures your requests are properly logged to PromptLayer and leverages your prompt templates from the Prompt Registry. This is the recommended approach for production use.