--- title: How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI... description: A step-by-step guide to using OpenRouter's unified API in Python to access multiple AI models from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google, and Meta... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-real-python-1mtbe6l36 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI Models via Python – Real Python | daily.dev og:description: A step-by-step guide to using OpenRouter's unified API in Python to access multiple AI models from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google, and Meta... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-real-python-1mtbe6l36 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/1MtBe6l36.png og:image:alt: How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI Models via Python – Real Python og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI Models via Python – Real Python **[Real Python](https://daily.dev/sources/rpython)** · 13 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A step-by-step guide to using OpenRouter's unified API in Python to access multiple AI models from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google, and Meta through a single interface. Covers setting up authentication, making chat completion requests, intelligent provider routing by price/latency/throughput, and implementing model fallback chains for production reliability. Uses the requests library with no SDK required. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Accessing Multiple AI Models With the OpenRouter API – Real Python](https://daily.dev/posts/accessing-multiple-ai-models-with-the-openrouter-api-real-python-fydf3kua2) · Real Python · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI Models via Python Quiz – Real Python](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-quiz-real-python-77riswrfq) · Real Python · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Accessing Multiple AI Models With the OpenRouter API Quiz – Real Python](https://daily.dev/posts/accessing-multiple-ai-models-with-the-openrouter-api-quiz-real-python-xcp1t2pnm) · Real Python · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python), [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-real-python-1mtbe6l36) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI Models via Python – Real Python","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-real-python-1mtbe6l36","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-real-python-1mtbe6l36"},"datePublished":"2026-03-04T14:01:08.475Z","dateModified":"2026-03-04T14:01:34.805Z","description":"A step-by-step guide to using OpenRouter's unified API in Python to access multiple AI models from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google, and Meta...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/60f13607c3900f6fb9c4c29168b3b00d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/60f13607c3900f6fb9c4c29168b3b00d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Real Python","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Real Python","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/rpython","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/rpython"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-the-openrouter-api-to-access-multiple-ai-models-via-python-real-python-1mtbe6l36","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"python,llm","timeRequired":"PT13M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Real Python","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/rpython"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to Use the OpenRouter API to Access Multiple AI Models via Python – Real Python"}]} ```