OpenAI compatibility

Routic's API is fully compatible with OpenAI's request and response format. If you're already using the OpenAI SDK or any OpenAI-format tool, just change base_url and api_key to switch to Routic.

Quick switch

from openai import OpenAI

# Before
client = OpenAI(
    api_key="sk-openai-xxx",
)

# Switch to Routic — only two lines change
client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.routic.ai/v1",
    api_key="sk-xxxxxxxx",
)

All subsequent code (client.chat.completions.create, client.models.list, etc.) stays the same.

Compatible endpoints

Endpoint	Path	Compatibility
Chat completions	`POST /v1/chat/completions`	✅ Fully compatible
Models	`GET /v1/models`	✅ Fully compatible
Streaming	`POST /v1/chat/completions` + `stream: true`	✅ Fully compatible
Function calling	`tools` / `tool_choice` params	✅ Fully compatible
JSON mode	`response_format: { type: "json_object" }`	✅ Fully compatible
Thinking mode	`thinking` param (extension)	🔶 Routic extension, not in OpenAI
Smart routing	`model: "auto/*"` format (extension)	🔶 Routic extension, not in OpenAI

Compatible parameters

Chat completions parameters

Parameter	OpenAI	Routic	Notes
`model`	✅	✅	Routic also supports `auto/*` smart routing names
`messages`	✅	✅	Identical format
`temperature`	✅	✅	Range 0–2
`top_p`	✅	✅
`max_tokens`	✅	✅
`stream`	✅	✅
`stop`	✅	✅	Up to 4 stop sequences
`frequency_penalty`	✅	✅	Range -2–2
`presence_penalty`	✅	✅	Range -2–2
`tools`	✅	✅
`tool_choice`	✅	✅
`response_format`	✅	✅
`logprobs`	✅	✅
`top_logprobs`	✅	✅
`thinking`	❌	✅	Routic extension: enables thinking mode
`n`	✅	❌	Not supported — always returns 1 choice
`seed`	✅	❌	Not supported yet
`logit_bias`	✅	❌	Not supported yet

Response fields

Field	OpenAI	Routic	Notes
`id`	✅	✅
`object`	✅	✅	`"chat.completion"`
`choices`	✅	✅
`usage.prompt_tokens`	✅	✅
`usage.completion_tokens`	✅	✅
`usage.total_tokens`	✅	✅
`usage.prompt_cache_hit_tokens`	❌	✅	Cached tokens billed at a lower rate
`usage.prompt_cache_miss_tokens`	❌	✅	Non-cached tokens
`choices[].message.reasoning_content`	❌	✅	Thinking chain content (when thinking mode is enabled)

Incompatibilities

Different model names

OpenAI model names (gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini) are not available on Routic. Use Routic's model names instead:

Use case	OpenAI model	Routic alternative
General chat	`gpt-4o-mini`	`deepseek-v3` or `auto/chat`
Complex reasoning	`o1` / `o3-mini`	`deepseek-r1` or `auto/reasoning`
Code generation	`gpt-4o`	`deepseek-v3` or `deepseek-r1`

See the Model catalog for the full list.

Embeddings and Images not available

Routic currently supports text generation only (Chat Completions). The following OpenAI endpoints are not supported:

POST /v1/embeddings
POST /v1/images/generations
POST /v1/audio/*

Authentication

OpenAI uses Authorization: Bearer sk-xxx — same as Routic. The only difference is the key prefix:

OpenAI: sk-proj-...
Routic: sk-...

Compatible tools and frameworks

Because Routic is fully OpenAI-compatible, these tools work out of the box:

Tool	How to connect
Cursor	Change OpenAI Base URL → see guide
Claude Code	Change Anthropic Base URL → see guide
Aider	Change `--openai-api-base` → see guide
LangChain	`ChatOpenAI(base_url=..., api_key=...)`
LlamaIndex	Same config as LangChain
Continue.dev	Change API Base URL in settings
Cline / Roo Code	Change API Base URL in settings

Any tool that supports a custom OpenAI Base URL works with Routic.