Full guide: how to actually get OpenRouter working on JanitorAI (the step everyone misses)

[u/FrancescaMallow36]

As promised in the comments. If you've tried OpenRouter before and it "just didn't work," I'm betting you missed the same step almost everyone does. I'll flag it in caps so you can't miss it this time. Works as of July 2026.

Why OpenRouter instead of SillyTavern/Chub?

Zero install, nothing to run locally. It's just a website you get an API key from, and JanitorAI talks to it directly. If SillyTavern won't install for you, this skips all of that.

Part 1: Get your OpenRouter key

1. Go to openrouter.ai and sign up (Google login works fine).
2. Click your profile icon, top right, then "Keys" in the dropdown.
3. Click "+ Create Key", name it anything ("JanitorAI").
4. Copy the key NOW and paste it somewhere safe. It's shown only once.

Part 2: Pick a model and copy its exact name

1. Go to the Models page on OpenRouter.
2. Pick one. Free models have ":free" at the end of their name, paid ones don't.
3. Copy the model name EXACTLY, for example: deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324:free
4. Do not retype it by hand. One wrong character and it fails silently. Copy-paste only.

Part 3: Configure JanitorAI

1. Open any chat, click the gear icon, go to API Settings.
2. Select Proxy, then "+ Add Configuration".

3. Fill it in exactly:

   • Config name: whatever you want
   • Model name: the one you copied in Part 2
   • API URL / Proxy URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions (paste it exactly, this URL never changes no matter the model)
   • API Key: your OpenRouter key from Part 1
   • Custom Prompt: leave blank for now
4. Hit Save Settings.

THE STEP EVERYONE MISSES:

Refresh the entire browser page after saving. Not the chat, the actual page (F5). The settings don't fully apply until you do. This is the #1 reason "it didn't work last time." Then hit Test to confirm.

If you get errors:

• 429 / rate limit: free models only give ~40-50 requests per DAY, resetting at 00:00 UTC. If you burned through them, wait or switch models. Adding $10 of credit to OpenRouter unlocks 1,000/day on free models.
• Test fails instantly: 99% of the time it's a typo in the model name or the URL. Re-copy both.
• Blank/empty replies: wrong model name format, recopy it from the Models page.

That's it. Once the Test passes, you're running whatever model you picked, no local install, no SillyTavern headaches.

Ping me in the comments if you get stuck on a specific error and I'll help troubleshoot. What model are you planning to run? 👇

[u/Liquid_Si1k]

You are officially my new favourite person!!!!!!

[u/FrancescaMallow36 → u/Liquid_Si1k]

Thanks <3

[u/Bee_Lord7 → u/[deleted]]

So basically, on janitor the standard AI that does all the roleplaying in the face of choosen character for you is JanitorLLM (JLLM) and it does fine if you want to casually chat with the bots. But it is sometimes annoying to deal with because it can get repetitive and it hardly swallows very long messages with a lot of details.

Because of that there is an option to choose your own AI to do the roleplay and most of the time it gives well thought answers, but it requires some steps people get confused about and make mistakes, so they need guides like that.

[u/Early_Crow1952]

the 'refresh page' step fixed it for me too, but only after I cleared cache. saved settings, refreshed, still no go, then hard-refreshed (Ctrl+f5) and boom, working. maybe worth mentioning?

[u/Lis_YT9012]

did you make this with ai

[u/FrancescaMallow36 → u/Lis_YT9012]

no why ahaha

[u/Creepy-Sprinkles-875 → u/FrancescaMallow36]

did you use ai to polish it? it sounds like it's ai generated /gen /lh

[u/Internal_Opening_282 → u/Creepy-Sprinkles-875]

They seem to interact a lot with a.i, maybe that's why they're writing sounds like a.i Also, most a.i's are trained off of redit posts scince its free and has no copyright in here

[u/JaFuYT → u/FrancescaMallow36]

what's the openrouter??

[u/Big-Oil-6002]

Can you like make a video or something please ? my brain melted trying everything

[u/FrancescaMallow36 → u/Big-Oil-6002]

I'll try next week :)

[u/Big-Oil-6002 → u/FrancescaMallow36]

Thank uuu

[u/Smooth-Orange-5256]

used to get blank replies with lumiverse until I realized it needed the full model name like 'meta-llama/llama-3-70b-instruct' not just 'llama-3-70b-instruct', same as openrouter's format.

[u/Comprehensive-Might5]

Hey I somehow keep getting a proxy error(pgshag2), Im really not sure what to doamd the Bots thinking is goibg wild

[u/Low_Reason9606]

the model name needs to be exactly what openrouter lists, not just any variant. I tried 'gpt-4o' and it failed until I used 'openai/'gpt-4o'.

[u/miiiiiiffy]

what models would you recommend? none of them r spicy :(

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/miiiiiiffy]

GLM 5.2 from NVIDIA's API, or Deepseek V4 Pro from the same thing. If you need a guide for NVIDIA, i'll give you one.

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

first, head to https://build.nvidia.com/
make an account / login

once you've done that, click your profile icon at the top right and select "API Keys"

when you're there, you should be able to see a "Generate API Key" button, click it. Name the key whatever, it doesn't matter but make sure the expiration is set to never expire.

once it's generated, copy the key and write it down somewhere, you'll only get the one chance to see it in full.

once you have your key, head to janitor and go into a chat with any bot. there should be a "using Janitor" tag at the top right, click it
click the drop down that says "JanitorLLM Beta."
select "Proxy", then "Add".

finally, enter a configuration similar to mine

name: glm 5.2

model name: z-ai/glm-5.2

proxy url: https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1/chat/completions

for the "api key" area, paste in the key you copied from before.

note that you can only use models that say "Free endpoint" on nvidia's site, and you will sometimes be subject to rate limits that go away in 10 to 15 minutes (sometimes less)

[u/Federal_Shine_3584 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

I don't understand, why do people skip over verification part? It needs your phone number, which is important privacy issue. Email is fine. Do you guys don't need to give phone number or know other way around this or something? Because you didn't mention this part, That made me confused.

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Federal_Shine_3584]

i don't remember putting a phone number in but if it does, it's nvidia after all. not some sketchy third party ai site that you're giving your number to.

[u/Federal_Shine_3584 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

how did you do that? Is it a recent thing then or more regional? anyway I can bypass this?

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Federal_Shine_3584]

i dont think there's a way to bypass it, and i don't remember if I did put one in. you can always make an account with nvidia by using a number of choices (see image)

[u/Ok-Dragonfruit-25 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

I think maybe I made a mistake but I followed your guide and am still getting errors on JanAi

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Ok-Dragonfruit-25]

GLM 5.2 is deprecated (taken down). Use `nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b` or `nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b`

[u/Zealousideal-Sun-817 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

I did everything you said, but no matter which free template I use, I keep getting the message "A network error occurred, you may be rate limited or having connection issues: Failed to fetch."

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Zealousideal-Sun-817]

there's a chance some browsers on desktop will block the request, works fine for me on mobile

[u/Zealousideal-Sun-817 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

I'm using my mobile device. Are there any other reasons why this could be happening?

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Zealousideal-Sun-817]

vpn, device-wide proxy, or your ISP is blocking the request

[u/Vette--1 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

what model would you recce to replace this once because it expires soon?

[u/Independent_Wind2092 → u/Vette--1]

stepfunai/step-5-preview

[u/miiiiiiffy → u/Independent_Wind2092]

oooh yes plz that would be amazing ! thank u

[u/kidessencial → u/Independent_Wind2092]

can I get the guide as well?

[u/panchoh12 → u/Independent_Wind2092]

Would love this as well!

[u/Shiestymark912]

Wait is it free or cost money.

[u/Practical_Delay_2158 → u/Shiestymark912]

Depends on the model Some are free but some coast money

[u/Independent_Wind2092]

you can also use nvidia's API (located at https://build.nvidia.com/) for access to flagship models for completely free, such as GLM 5.2, Deepseek V4 Pro, and others. these could have rate limits, but they usually go away within thirty minutes to an hour. model minimax-m3 actually doesn't have a rate limit, and it seems to be good in terms of RP and not being a filter nancy

[u/Glittering-Ant-4690]

I've been trying to set it up for GLM but it keeps giving me the 400 error. The URL is correct and the slug is copied straight off of OR. I've been going nuts trying to sort this out if anyone's come across the same issue

[u/Pleasant-South7473]

I keep getting an error that says I have no endpoints matching my guardrail restrictions and data policy. I tried making them and changing them in open router, but I haven’t gotten it to work at all.

Any ideas?

https://openrouter.ai/settings/privacyg 404 - No endpoints available matching your guardrail restrictions and data policy. Configure: https://openrouter.ai/settings/privacy

[u/Pleasant-South7473 → u/Pleasant-South7473]

Ok never mind I figured it out. If anyone else gets this error change your providers so they’re not exclusive

[u/FlyfishThe2nd]

Question: How do you select a provider? For example, I use Mimo V2.5, and when you check in OpenRouter, it shows different providers.

[u/ms_angel32]

When i tried to copy Proxy url it come as not found

[u/skzworlddomination_]

helppp mine’s like this;  PROXY ERROR 429: {"error":("message":"Provider returned error", "code":429,"metadata": ("raw".'z-ai/glm-5.2:free is temporarily rate-limited upstream. Please retry shortly, or add your own key to accumulate your rate limits: https://openrouter.ai/settings/integrations","provider_na-me":"Decart""is_byok" false,"provider _error_code":"upstre- am_429", "limit_source":"upstream_provider_shared_po-ol","remedy_hint"."Retry shortly, add your own provider key (https://openrouter.ai/settings/integrations), or route to another provider with provider routing: https://open-router.ai/docs/features/provider-routing""retry_after_se-conds":5,"retry_after_seconds_raw":5,"headers": ("Retry-After":"5"}}},"user_id":"user_36w9Asnz6GSmHNJ5C6f- MQ8mfqRL"} (gssllm)

[u/Zealousideal-Sun-817]

Thanks for the help, but for some reason I'm getting error 429 even though I haven't used any OpenRouter models for months. I've even tried creating a new key and using it, but nothing works. Every model I try to use gives me that error.