Management API Keys - Programmatic Control of OpenRouter API Keys

OpenRouter provides endpoints to programmatically manage your API keys, enabling key creation and management for applications that need to distribute or rotate keys automatically.

Creating a Management API Key

To use the key management API, you first need to create a Management API key:

Go to the Management API Keys page
Click “Create New Key”
Complete the key creation process

Management keys cannot be used to make API calls to OpenRouter’s completion endpoints - they are exclusively for administrative operations.

Use Cases

Common scenarios for programmatic key management include:

SaaS Applications: Automatically create unique API keys for each customer instance
Key Rotation: Regularly rotate API keys for security compliance
Usage Monitoring: Track key usage and automatically disable keys that exceed limits (with optional daily/weekly/monthly limit resets)

Example Usage

All key management endpoints are under /api/v1/keys and require a Management API key in the Authorization header.

import { OpenRouter } from '@openrouter/sdk';

const openRouter = new OpenRouter({
  apiKey: 'your-management-key', // Use your Management API key
});

// List the most recent 100 API keys
const keys = await openRouter.apiKeys.list();

// You can paginate using the offset parameter
const keysPage2 = await openRouter.apiKeys.list({ offset: 100 });

// Create a new API key
const newKey = await openRouter.apiKeys.create({
  name: 'Customer Instance Key',
  limit: 1000, // Optional credit limit
});

// Get a specific key
const keyHash = '<YOUR_KEY_HASH>';
const key = await openRouter.apiKeys.get(keyHash);

// Update a key
const updatedKey = await openRouter.apiKeys.update(keyHash, {
  name: 'Updated Key Name',
  disabled: true, // Optional: Disable the key
  includeByokInLimit: false, // Optional: control BYOK usage in limit
  limitReset: 'daily', // Optional: reset limit every day at midnight UTC
});

// Delete a key
await openRouter.apiKeys.delete(keyHash);

import requests

MANAGEMENT_API_KEY = "your-management-key"
BASE_URL = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/keys"

# List the most recent 100 API keys
response = requests.get(
    BASE_URL,
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
)

# You can paginate using the offset parameter
response = requests.get(
    f"{BASE_URL}?offset=100",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
)

# Create a new API key
response = requests.post(
    f"{BASE_URL}/",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    json={
        "name": "Customer Instance Key",
        "limit": 1000  # Optional credit limit
    }
)

# Get a specific key
key_hash = "<YOUR_KEY_HASH>"
response = requests.get(
    f"{BASE_URL}/{key_hash}",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
)

# Update a key
response = requests.patch(
    f"{BASE_URL}/{key_hash}",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    json={
        "name": "Updated Key Name",
        "disabled": True,  # Optional: Disable the key
        "include_byok_in_limit": False,  # Optional: control BYOK usage in limit
        "limit_reset": "daily"  # Optional: reset limit every day at midnight UTC
    }
)

# Delete a key
response = requests.delete(
    f"{BASE_URL}/{key_hash}",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
)

const MANAGEMENT_API_KEY = 'your-management-key';
const BASE_URL = 'https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/keys';

// List the most recent 100 API keys
const listKeys = await fetch(BASE_URL, {
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
});

// You can paginate using the `offset` query parameter
const listKeys = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}?offset=100`, {
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
});

// Create a new API key
const createKey = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Customer Instance Key',
    limit: 1000, // Optional credit limit
  }),
});

// Get a specific key
const keyHash = '<YOUR_KEY_HASH>';
const getKey = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}/${keyHash}`, {
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
});

// Update a key
const updateKey = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}/${keyHash}`, {
  method: 'PATCH',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Updated Key Name',
    disabled: true, // Optional: Disable the key
    include_byok_in_limit: false, // Optional: control BYOK usage in limit
    limit_reset: 'daily', // Optional: reset limit every day at midnight UTC
  }),
});

// Delete a key
const deleteKey = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}/${keyHash}`, {
  method: 'DELETE',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${MANAGEMENT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
});

Response Format

API responses return JSON objects containing key information:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "created_at": "2025-02-19T20:52:27.363244+00:00",
      "updated_at": "2025-02-19T21:24:11.708154+00:00",
      "hash": "<YOUR_KEY_HASH>",
      "label": "sk-or-v1-abc...123",
      "name": "Customer Key",
      "disabled": false,
      "limit": 10,
      "limit_remaining": 10,
      "limit_reset": null,
      "include_byok_in_limit": false,
      "usage": 0,
      "usage_daily": 0,
      "usage_weekly": 0,
      "usage_monthly": 0,
      "byok_usage": 0,
      "byok_usage_daily": 0,
      "byok_usage_weekly": 0,
      "byok_usage_monthly": 0
    }
  ]
}

When creating a new key, the response will include the key string itself. Read more in the API reference.

​Creating a Management API Key

​Use Cases

​Example Usage

​Response Format

Creating a Management API Key

Use Cases

Example Usage

Response Format