Quickstart: API Key & First Call

Welcome to XRoute. Follow this quickstart guide to obtain your unified API key, send your first model request across unified OpenAI, Anthropic, or native multimodal endpoints, and monitor your usage in real time.

Obtain your API Key

In the left sidebar of the personal console, click Access Credentials (https://xroute.ai/personal/keys).XRoute provides a default credential key out-of-the-box. Click the Copy icon next to the API Key input field to copy your secret key (sk-...).

Access Credentials Overview — Access credentials overview showing the default API Key and copy button

(Optional) Create a new API key

To isolate environments or control access permissions across different applications, you can create additional keys:

Click the + Create button at the top of the credentials list.
Enter a descriptive Name for your key (e.g. dev-agent or production).
Choose the authentication type (API Key), parameter location (Header: Authorization), and optional expiration date.
Click Confirm to generate the key.

Create New Access Key — Dialog for creating a new access credential

Quickest call: Copy pre-configured cURL from Dashboard

You do not need to manually assemble endpoint URLs, model identifiers, or headers. The XRoute Personal Dashboard provides a Quick Call Guide that automatically generates ready-to-run code with your secret key and chosen model pre-filled:

In the left navigation menu, click Dashboard (https://xroute.ai/personal/dashboard).
Under Quick Call Guide, choose your target AI Model and Credential (e.g. default).
Select your protocol format (OpenAI Compatible Format, Claude Compatible Format, or Native Invocation Mode).
Click Copy Code on the CURL tab, paste it into your terminal, and run it immediately!

XRoute Personal Dashboard Quick Call Guide with ready-to-copy cURL command

Export your API key in your environment

For programmatic usage with SDKs or command-line scripts, export the API key in your terminal session:

export XROUTE_API_KEY="sk_your_key_here"

Never commit your API keys to public repositories or expose them in client-side frontend code.

Send your first request

XRoute supports multiple generation modalities and protocols. Choose the format that fits your application:

Text Models: Support OpenAI Unified (https://api.xroute.ai/v1/chat/completions), Anthropic Unified (https://api.xroute.ai/v1/messages), and Provider Native formats.
Image Models: Call provider native endpoints directly (e.g. https://api.xroute.ai/OpenAI/images/generations).
Video Models: Asynchronous workflow (submit task to /contents/generations/tasks, then poll status).

curl -X POST "https://api.xroute.ai/v1/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XROUTE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "OpenAI/gpt-6-astra",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "Hello! Explain why XRoute is useful in 2 sentences."}
    ]
  }'

from openai import OpenAI
import os

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.xroute.ai/v1",
    api_key=os.environ.get("XROUTE_API_KEY"),
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="OpenAI/gpt-6-astra",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Hello! Explain why XRoute is useful in 2 sentences."}
    ],
)

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

import OpenAI from "openai";

const openai = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: "https://api.xroute.ai/v1",
  apiKey: process.env.XROUTE_API_KEY,
});

const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
  model: "OpenAI/gpt-6-astra",
  messages: [
    { role: "user", content: "Hello! Explain why XRoute is useful in 2 sentences." },
  ],
});

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

curl -X POST "https://api.xroute.ai/v1/messages" \
  -H "x-api-key: $XROUTE_API_KEY" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "Anthropic/claude-fable-5",
    "max_tokens": 1024,
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "What makes a reliable API gateway?"}
    ]
  }'

curl -X POST "https://api.xroute.ai/OpenAI/images/generations" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XROUTE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-image-2.5-flare",
    "prompt": "An ultra-modern data center glowing in cyberpunk neon lights, 8k resolution",
    "size": "1024x1024"
  }'

# 1. Submit video generation task
curl -X POST "https://api.xroute.ai/Byteplus/contents/generations/tasks" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XROUTE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "seedance-1-5-pro-251215",
    "content": [
      {"type": "text", "text": "A drone flying through a sunset canyon, cinematic lighting"}
    ]
  }'

# 2. Query task status with returned task_id
# curl -X GET "https://api.xroute.ai/Byteplus/contents/generations/tasks/{task_id}" \
#   -H "Authorization: Bearer $XROUTE_API_KEY"

Check balance and call statistics

After making requests, you can monitor your account usage and API traffic directly in the console:

View balance and today’s usage on the Dashboard: Go to Dashboard (https://xroute.ai/personal/dashboard) to view your real-time Account Balance (USD), Today’s Usage, and total Today’s Calls.

Personal Dashboard Overview — Check your account balance and today's usage in the Personal Dashboard

Inspect detailed invocation metrics in Call Statistics: Under REPORTS in the left sidebar, click Call Statistics (https://xroute.ai/personal/call) to analyze your model calls. You can view Total Calls, Success Call Rate, Average Duration, Total Tokens Called, Total Consumption Amount, and the real-time Model Invocation Trend breakdown chart.

Call Statistics Analysis — Monitor model traffic, token consumption, and duration in Call Statistics

Next steps

SDK Compatibility

Use XRoute with OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain, LlamaIndex, or Byteplus SDKs.

Model Catalog

Explore all supported LLMs, image generation, and video generation models.

XRoute Console

Manage access credentials, monitor real-time balance, configure model mapping failovers, and track call statistics.

Rate Limits & Errors

Understand default rate limits, retry mechanisms, and error codes.

Overview

Get Started · For Developers

XRoute Console

Help

Quickstart: API Key & First Call

Next steps

SDK Compatibility

Model Catalog

XRoute Console

Rate Limits & Errors