Authentication

Every request to https://api.router.africa/v1 needs an API key. Send it in the Authorization header as a Bearer token. This is the same form the OpenAI SDK uses, so the SDK only needs a new base URL and key.

curl https://api.router.africa/v1/models \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ROUTER_AFRICA_API_KEY"

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
  base_url="https://api.router.africa/v1",
  api_key=os.environ["ROUTER_AFRICA_API_KEY"],  # sent as Authorization: Bearer
)

print([m.id for m in client.models.list()])

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
baseURL: "https://api.router.africa/v1",
apiKey: process.env.ROUTER_AFRICA_API_KEY, // sent as Authorization: Bearer
});

const models = await client.models.list();
console.log(models.data.map((m) => m.id));

Key format

• Keys start with sk-ra-.
• A key is shown once, when you create it. router.africa stores only a hash, so it can’t show it again. Create a new key if you lose one.
• Create, rotate and revoke keys in the dashboard under API keys.

Rules

• Authorization: Bearer <key> is accepted on every endpoint. The word Bearer is not case-sensitive.
• POST /v1/messages also accepts x-api-key: <key>, so the Anthropic SDK works with its default api_key. No other endpoint accepts x-api-key.
• Don’t send a key in the URL or the request body. The request fails with 400 and the reason key_not_in_header. If you did this, rotate the key.
• Use HTTPS only.
• Keep keys on your server. Never put one in a browser app, a mobile app or a public repository.
• The OpenAI-Organization, OpenAI-Project and OpenAI-Beta headers are accepted and ignored, so SDK settings for them do no harm.

Authentication errors

Every 401 carries WWW-Authenticate: Bearer realm="router.africa". See Errors for the response body. On POST /v1/messages the body is in Anthropic’s format.

You can limit what a key can do. See Spend caps and key scoping.