ClaudeCode-Custom-Skills/skills/openrouter-config/SKILL.md

name, description, version

name	description	version
openrouter-config	Use this skill when the user asks to "configure OpenRouter", "set up OpenRouter API key", "enable OpenRouter as AI provider", "configure OpenRouter in Claude Code", "set OpenRouter model", "connect Claude Code to OpenRouter", or mentions configuring OpenRouter for Claude Code.	1.0.0

OpenRouter Config Skill

Helps users configure and enable OpenRouter as the AI provider for Claude Code by setting up the OpenRouter API key, configuring Anthropic-compatible environment variables, and ensuring proper provider priority and failover capabilities.

Documentation Source

Official OpenRouter Claude Code Integration Guide: https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/claude-code-integration

What It Does

1. API Key Setup: Securely configures the OpenRouter API key
2. Environment Configuration: Sets up Anthropic-compatible environment variables
3. Provider Priority: Ensures Anthropic 1P is set as top priority provider
4. API Endpoint Configuration: Configures https://openrouter.ai/api as the base URL
5. Configuration Verification: Validates that the configuration is working correctly
6. Failover Setup: Enables automatic provider failover for high availability

Key Benefits

1. Provider Failover for High Availability

Anthropic's API occasionally experiences outages or rate limiting. OpenRouter automatically fails over between multiple Anthropic providers, keeping coding sessions uninterrupted.

2. Organizational Budget Controls

Centralized budget management with spending limits, credit allocation, and cost overrun prevention for teams.

3. Usage Visibility and Analytics

Complete visibility into Claude Code usage across teams, including usage patterns, real-time cost monitoring, and resource consumption tracking via the OpenRouter Activity Dashboard.

Quick Start

Environment Variables to Configure

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="<your-openrouter-api-key>"
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://openrouter.ai/api"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="$OPENROUTER_API_KEY"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="" # Important: Must be explicitly empty

Shell Profile Locations

Add to one of these files:

• ~/.bashrc for Bash
• ~/.zshrc for Zsh
• ~/.config/fish/config.fish for Fish

Important: Do NOT add these to a project-level .env file - Claude Code's native installer does not read standard .env files.

Verification

Run /status inside Claude Code to verify:

/status

Expected output:

Auth token: ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN
Anthropic base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api

API Configuration

Base URL

https://openrouter.ai/api

Authentication

OpenRouter API key (get from https://openrouter.ai/keys)

Provider Priority

Critical: Set Anthropic 1P as top priority provider for maximum compatibility with Claude Code.

Usage

"Configure OpenRouter with my API key"
"Set up OpenRouter as my AI provider"
"Enable OpenRouter in Claude Code"
"Configure OpenRouter for Claude Code"
"Connect Claude Code to OpenRouter"

How It Works

Direct Connection

Claude Code speaks its native protocol directly to OpenRouter when ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is set to https://openrouter.ai/api. No local proxy server is required.

Anthropic Skin

OpenRouter's "Anthropic Skin" behaves exactly like the Anthropic API, handling model mapping and passing through advanced features like "Thinking" blocks and native tool use.

Billing

Billed using OpenRouter credits. Usage (including reasoning tokens) appears in the OpenRouter dashboard.

Important Notes

Previous Anthropic Login

If previously logged in to Claude Code with Anthropic, run /logout in a Claude Code session to clear cached credentials before OpenRouter configuration takes effect.

Explicit Empty API Key

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY must be set to an empty string (""), not unset. If unset (null), Claude Code may fall back to default behavior and authenticate with Anthropic servers directly.

Shell Profile Persistence

Environment variables should be added to your shell profile for persistence across sessions.

Claude Code Models

When using Claude Code through OpenRouter, you access Anthropic models including Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, and Claude 3 Haiku.

Advanced Features

Cost Tracking Statusline

Download statusline scripts from openrouter-examples repository and add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "/path/to/statusline.sh"
  }
}

GitHub Action Integration

- name: Run Claude Code
  uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1
  with:
    anthropic_api_key: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
  env:
    ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL: https://openrouter.ai/api

Agent SDK Integration

The Anthropic Agent SDK uses the same environment variables for OpenRouter integration.

Security Notes

• API keys are stored in shell environment with appropriate file permissions
• OpenRouter does not log source code prompts unless you explicitly opt-in to prompt logging
• See OpenRouter Privacy Policy for details

Troubleshooting

Auth Errors

• Ensure ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set to empty string ("")
• Check that environment variables are set in shell profile (not just current session)
• Restart terminal after updating shell profile

Context Length Errors

• Break tasks into smaller chunks
• Start a new session

Connection Issues

• Verify OpenRouter API key is correct
• Check all environment variables are set correctly
• Run /status to verify configuration
• Check OpenRouter Activity Dashboard for requests appearing

Previous Credentials

• Run /logout to clear cached Anthropic credentials
• Restart Claude Code after environment variable changes

Example Workflow

1. User requests: "Configure OpenRouter for Claude Code"
2. Skill prompts for OpenRouter API key
3. Skill adds environment variables to shell profile
4. Skill reminds user to restart terminal
5. User restarts terminal and runs claude
6. User runs /status to verify configuration
7. User can now use Claude Code with OpenRouter's failover and analytics

Configuration File Location

Environment variables are added to shell profile:

• ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Claude Code settings (optional):

• ~/.claude/settings.json (for statusline)

Supported Models

Anthropic models accessed through OpenRouter:

• Claude 3.5 Sonnet
• Claude 3 Opus
• Claude 3 Haiku

Model selection depends on Claude Code configuration and OpenRouter model routing settings.

Related Resources

• OpenRouter Claude Code Integration Guide
• OpenRouter Activity Dashboard
• OpenRouter API Keys
• OpenRouter Examples Repository
• Anthropic Agent SDK