OpenRouter models and API keys

Save an OpenRouter API key

OpenRouter runs through Helios’s own coding-agent loop; it does not require a separate provider CLI. Create or use a key in your OpenRouter account, then enter it under Settings → Providers.

Helios stores the key in openrouter.key under its app-state directory, normally ~/.helios/, with private file permissions. There is no Helios environment-variable shortcut for this key.

OpenRouter is a metered API route. Check account credit and model pricing before starting work.

Load and organize models

Opening Settings with a saved key, or saving the key, refreshes the live model catalogue. Choose the model and inspect its advertised tool, reasoning and context capabilities.

OpenRouter · Models in the picker lets you select a useful first tier. Clear the shortlist to show the full catalogue. The separate Model picker · Shown models control can hide models from the picker; Show all restores hidden entries.

Helios keeps Anthropic and OpenAI models on their native provider paths rather than offering those vendor prefixes through this picker.

Start with a small tool-using task

Create a chat in a project folder, select an OpenRouter model and inspect Execution. Ask it to explain one source file and cite the relevant lines. Check that the selected model supports the tools your task needs.

Reasoning levels follow the model’s current capability declaration. Some models have mandatory reasoning or distinct allowed levels; do not assume an Off or High control exists for every model.

Read usage and stopping conditions

Helios reserves an allowance before requests and applies a per-Work budget, currently $5, along with tool-round limits. Models without a usable verified price are refused before a request starts. Repeated unproductive identical tool rounds can pause with a resumable handoff.

These controls apply to this Helios Work. They are not an account-wide spend cap or a guarantee that every external request has already stopped when cancellation begins.

Know the current differences

OpenRouter uses Helios’s own approval mapping. Browser tools can be offered through the supported integration. Composer image references remain text paths in the current runtime; native vision conversion is not wired into this route.

It does not expose the same native commands, subagent lifecycle or subscription quota surface as the CLI providers. Read permissions and troubleshooting when moving a task between providers.