> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://io.net/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Use io.net Models on OpenRouter (BYOK)

> Route OpenRouter requests for io.net models through your own io.net account with Bring Your Own Key — pay io.net's direct rates on your io.net credits while keeping OpenRouter's unified API.

## Overview

OpenRouter's **Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)** lets you route OpenRouter requests for io.net models through **your own io.net account**. You keep OpenRouter's unified API, SDKs, and routing, while inference is served and billed by io.net against your io.net credits — at io.net's direct rates instead of a resale markup.

### Why use it

* Pay [io.net](http://io.net)'s rate on your own [io.net](http://io.net) balance — your account, your rate limits and quotas.
* **Low OpenRouter fee** — BYOK is **0% for your first 1,000,000 requests each month** (5% thereafter), charged to your OpenRouter credits.
* **No code changes** — keep the OpenRouter SDKs and tooling you already use.
* **Pin io.net** for the latency or throughput you want, with fallback control.

## How it works

```mermaid theme={null}
sequenceDiagram
    participant You as Your app
    participant OR as OpenRouter
    participant IO as io.net
    You->>OR: chat/completions with your OpenRouter key<br/>model z-ai/glm-5.2, provider only io-net
    OR->>IO: request signed with YOUR io.net key (BYOK)
    Note over IO: io.net serves the model<br/>and bills your io.net credits
    IO-->>OR: completion
    OR-->>You: completion, usage.is_byok = true
```

## Prerequisites

<Steps>
  <Step title="An io.net account with an API key and credits">
    Create an API key in your io.net account and make sure the account has a positive credit balance — this is what pays for inference. See [API Keys and Secrets](/guides/intelligence/api-keys-and-secrets) and [IO Intelligence Payments](/guides/payment/io-intelligence-payments).
  </Step>

  <Step title="An OpenRouter account with credits">
    OpenRouter still needs a small credit balance to cover its BYOK fee. Add credits at [openrouter.ai/settings/credits](https://openrouter.ai/settings/credits).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Set it up

<Steps>
  <Step title="Copy your io.net API key">
    From your io.net account, create or copy an API key. Keep it handy for the next step.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Register the key in OpenRouter">
    Open OpenRouter's BYOK settings for io.net at [openrouter.ai/settings/integrations](https://openrouter.ai/settings/integrations) and select **io.net**.

    * Click **Add key** and paste your io.net API key.
    * Place it in the **Prioritized** section so OpenRouter uses it first.
    * Make sure the key's toggle is **enabled**.

    <Tip>
      Enable **"Always use for this provider"** if you want requests to fail rather than silently fall back to OpenRouter's shared io.net capacity.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Allow the io.net provider">
    Check [openrouter.ai/settings/privacy](https://openrouter.ai/settings/privacy) and confirm **io.net is not in your ignored providers** list.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Give the new key about a minute to take effect before testing.
</Note>

## Make a request

Call OpenRouter as usual and pin the io.net provider so your BYOK key is used:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
      "model": "z-ai/glm-5.2",
      "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Hello!" }],
      "provider": { "only": ["io-net"], "allow_fallbacks": false },
      "usage": { "include": true }
    }'
  ```

  ```python Python (OpenAI SDK) theme={null}
  from openai import OpenAI

  client = OpenAI(
      base_url="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
      api_key="<your OpenRouter API key>",
  )

  resp = client.chat.completions.create(
      model="z-ai/glm-5.2",
      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
      extra_body={
          "provider": {"only": ["io-net"], "allow_fallbacks": False},
          "usage": {"include": True},
      },
  )
  print(resp.choices[0].message.content)
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<Info>
  **Available io.net models on OpenRouter:** `z-ai/glm-5.2`, `qwen/qwen3.6-27b`. Browse the live list on the [io.net provider page](https://openrouter.ai/provider/io-net).
</Info>

## Confirm BYOK is being used

The response `usage` block tells you whether your key served the request:

```json theme={null}
"usage": { "is_byok": true, "cost": 0 }
```

`is_byok: true` means the request went through **your** io.net key. If you see `is_byok: false`, OpenRouter served it from its shared io.net capacity instead — see [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting).

## Pricing

<Info>
  * **Inference** is billed by io.net to **your io.net credits**, at io.net's rates.
  * **OpenRouter** charges a **BYOK fee** from your OpenRouter credits: **0% for the first 1M BYOK requests per month, 5% thereafter**.
</Info>

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="402 Insufficient credits">
    Your OpenRouter account has no balance. BYOK still needs OpenRouter credits to cover its fee — add credits at [openrouter.ai/settings/credits](https://openrouter.ai/settings/credits).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="404 No allowed providers / all providers ignored">
    io.net is in your OpenRouter **ignored providers** list. Un-ignore it at [openrouter.ai/settings/privacy](https://openrouter.ai/settings/privacy).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="usage.is_byok is false">
    OpenRouter served the request from shared capacity instead of your key. Re-check that the BYOK key is **Prioritized + enabled** on the correct OpenRouter account, and allow \~1 minute for changes to propagate.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="io.net returns 401 / 403">
    Your io.net key is invalid or the io.net account is out of credits. Recreate the key or top up your io.net balance.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Reference

* [OpenRouter BYOK overview](https://openrouter.ai/docs/guides/overview/auth/byok)
* [OpenRouter BYOK settings](https://openrouter.ai/settings/integrations)
* [io.net provider on OpenRouter](https://openrouter.ai/provider/io-net)