AI Source · OpenRouter
Get an OpenRouter API key
OpenRouter is the default AI brain for Project THE X — it routes your prompts to whichever model you pick (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, dozens more) over one unified API, billed per-token. This guide takes you from zero to a working key in about 90 seconds.
1Create a free OpenRouter account
Open openrouter.ai/sign-in and sign up with Google, GitHub, or email. No credit card required at signup.
OpenRouter is the same company every serious AI tool uses for multi-model access — it doesn't see your prompts (only the model provider does), and it offers a few free models you can use immediately to test the connection.
Open OpenRouter signup ↗2(Optional) Add a few dollars of credit
Required only if you want to use paid frontier models (Claude Sonnet, GPT-4o, Gemini Pro). The free models work with $0 in your account but are rate-limited and slower.
Go to openrouter.ai/settings/credits → click Add credits → pay with card, Apple Pay, or crypto. Credit doesn't expire.
anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5:online model — every campaign launched through Project THE X costs about $0.05–$0.15 in OpenRouter charges (the platform's own subscription is separate). So $5 of credit ≈ 30–100 end-to-end campaigns, plus a few hundred lighter calls (research refreshes, reports, ad-copy regenerates). Live token costs are visible on your OpenRouter dashboard.
3Create an API key
Open openrouter.ai/keys → click Create Key.
- Name — anything descriptive, e.g.
Project THE X. Helps if you ever generate multiple keys. - Credit limit (recommended) — set a hard ceiling (e.g.
$10) so a runaway prompt loop can't drain your full balance. OpenRouter blocks the key the instant it hits the cap; you can raise / lower it any time.
Click Create. The key starts with sk-or-v1-… and is shown only once — copy it somewhere safe (or paste it straight into Project THE X).
4Paste the key into Project THE X
If you're inside the dashboard already: Settings → AI Source → OpenRouter. Paste the key, pick a model, click Save AI source. The Test connection button right under the field confirms the key works and shows your remaining credit.
If this is your first login, the onboarding overlay walks you through this on the spot — the OpenRouter tab is the default.
We store the key encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM with a server-side key kept off the database). It's never echoed back to your browser after save, never appears in any log, and is sent only to openrouter.ai when the agent makes a call.
5Pick the right model
Every Project THE X prompt needs web search — research, knowledge base, and campaign-architect calls all rely on live context. Models are listed below with the :online suffix that bundles OpenRouter's web-search add-on.
| Model | Best for | Approx. cost / campaign |
|---|---|---|
anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5:online (default) | Speed + 90% of the quality at 5× lower cost | $0.05–$0.15 |
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5:online | Heaviest research, hardest creative briefs | $0.30–$1.00 |
google/gemini-2.5-flash:online | Cheapest paid path; multilingual tone | $0.03–$0.10 |
openai/gpt-4o-mini:online | Familiar GPT vibe; conservative copy | $0.04–$0.12 |
openai/gpt-oss-120b:online (free model + paid search) | Kicking the tyres; rate-limited; lower MENA-context quality | $0.01–$0.05 (search only) |
Switch any time from Settings → AI Source; no need to re-enter the key. All Project THE X prompts were tuned against Claude — other providers work but may need a regenerate on the first plan.
Frequently asked
Is OpenRouter free?
Signup and the free models are free. Paid models (most of the recommended ones) charge per-token to your OpenRouter balance. Project THE X never marks up — every dollar on OpenRouter goes to the model provider, not to us.
What if I already have a Claude Code subscription?
Skip OpenRouter entirely — use the Claude Code Runner option in Settings → AI Source. The Runner spawns Claude on your own machine via a desktop app, billed against your Anthropic subscription (no per-token charge here). Six install steps; the dashboard walks you through it.
Can I rotate the key later?
Yes. Generate a fresh key on OpenRouter, paste it into Settings → AI Source, click Save. The old one keeps working until you revoke it on OpenRouter's Keys page. We don't tie anything to a specific key value — only "the most recent one you saved".
What happens when I run out of credit?
The next agent call fails with a clean "OpenRouter: insufficient_balance" error. Top up at openrouter.ai/settings/credits and the next click works again. No data is lost; the in-progress campaign step can be retried.
What does Project THE X charge for?
The monthly subscription ($49.99 Individual / $149.99 Agency) covers the platform itself: dashboard, Meta integration, knowledge base, alerts, multi-tenant team features, reports, backups. AI inference (OpenRouter or Claude Code Runner) and Meta ad spend are billed by those providers directly — we never touch the money.