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🤔 Why 9Router?

Stop wasting money, tokens and hitting limits:

• ❌ Subscription quota expires unused every month
• ❌ Rate limits stop you mid-coding
• ❌ Tool outputs (git diff, grep, ls...) burn tokens fast
• ❌ Expensive APIs ($20-50/month per provider)
• ❌ Manual switching between providers

9Router solves this:

• ✅ RTK Token Saver - Auto-compress tool_result content, save 20-40% tokens per request
• ✅ Maximize subscriptions - Track quota, use every bit before reset
• ✅ Auto fallback - Subscription → Cheap → Free, zero downtime
• ✅ Multi-account - Round-robin between accounts per provider
• ✅ Universal - Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cline, any CLI tool

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🔄 How It Works

┌─────────────┐
│  Your CLI   │  (Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, Cursor, Cline...)
│   Tool      │
└──────┬──────┘
       │ http://localhost:20128/v1
       ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           9Router (Smart Router)            │
│  • RTK Token Saver (cut tool_result tokens) │
│  • Format translation (OpenAI ↔ Claude)     │
│  • Quota tracking                           │
│  • Auto token refresh                       │
└──────┬──────────────────────────────────────┘
       │
       ├─→ [Tier 1: SUBSCRIPTION] Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot
       │   ↓ quota exhausted
       ├─→ [Tier 2: CHEAP] GLM ($0.6/1M), MiniMax ($0.2/1M)
       │   ↓ budget limit
       └─→ [Tier 3: FREE] Kiro, OpenCode Free, Vertex ($300 credits)

Result: Never stop coding, minimal cost + 20-40% token savings via RTK

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⚡ Quick Start

1. Install globally:

npm install -g 9router
9router

🎉 Dashboard opens at http://localhost:20128

2. Connect a FREE provider (no signup needed):

Dashboard → Providers → Connect Kiro AI (~50 credits/month free: Claude 4.5 + GLM-5 + MiniMax) or OpenCode Free (no auth) → Done!

3. Use in your CLI tool:

Claude Code/Codex/OpenClaw/Cursor/Cline Settings:
  Endpoint: http://localhost:20128/v1
  API Key: [copy from dashboard]
  Model: kr/claude-sonnet-4.5

That's it! Start coding with FREE AI models.

Alternative: run from source (this repository):

This repository package is private (9router-app), so source/Docker execution is the expected local development path.

cp .env.example .env
npm install
PORT=20128 NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:20128 npm run dev

Production mode:

npm run build
PORT=20128 HOSTNAME=0.0.0.0 NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:20128 npm run start

Default URLs:

• Dashboard: http://localhost:20128/dashboard
• OpenAI-compatible API: http://localhost:20128/v1

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Video Guides

🎬 Made a video about 9Router? Submit a Pull Request adding your video to this section — we'll merge it!

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🛠️ Supported CLI Tools

9Router works seamlessly with all major AI coding tools:

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🌐 Supported Providers

🔐 OAuth Providers

🆓 Free Providers

Note: iFlow, Qwen Code and Gemini CLI free tiers were discontinued in 2026. Use Kiro / OpenCode Free / Vertex instead.

Kiro AI moved to a paid model in Sep 2025 — the free tier is now capped at 50 credits/month (plus 500 trial credits for new accounts in the first 30 days). Paid tiers: Pro $20/mo (1,000 credits), Pro+ $40/mo (2,000), Pro Max $100/mo (5,000), Power $200/mo (10,000). OpenCode Free model list fluctuates over time (some models free only for limited promos) — subject to change without notice. Vertex AI: the $300 free credit for new GCP accounts is still valid, but since Mar 2026 the Gemini API endpoint no longer consumes these credits — call the Vertex AI Studio endpoint instead.

🔑 API Key Providers (40+)

🏠 Self-hosted Providers

For speech and embeddings served from your own machine — whisper.cpp, faster-whisper, Speaches, Kokoro-FastAPI, openedai-speech, llama.cpp/llama-server, vLLM, Infinity, text-embeddings-inference, or anything else that speaks the OpenAI shape.

Provider	Endpoint used	Typical server
Self-hosted STT	/v1/audio/transcriptions	whisper.cpp, faster-whisper
Self-hosted TTS	/v1/audio/speech	Kokoro-FastAPI, openedai-speech
Self-hosted Embedding	/v1/embeddings	llama-server, vLLM, Infinity

Every other speech provider is a named cloud service with a fixed endpoint. These three read their address from each connection, so one provider can front several machines and load-balance across them like any other.

Set it on the connection as providerSpecificData.baseUrl:

Provider	Give it	Result
Self-hosted STT	the full URL — http://host:8080/v1/audio/transcriptions	used as-is
Self-hosted TTS	the server root — http://host:8880	+ /v1/audio/speech
Self-hosted Embedding	the OpenAI base, /v1 included — http://host:8080/v1	+ /embeddings

Mind the /v1 on embeddings. The adapter appends /embeddings, so http://host:8080 resolves to http://host:8080/embeddings and misses the OpenAI route — llama-server answers 501. Give it the same base URL an OpenAI client would use. A full .../v1/embeddings is also accepted, so a value pasted from a curl example works too.

The API key is not checked by most local servers, but the field must be non-empty: it is what gives the connection a credentials record, and baseUrl lives there. Any placeholder works.

Self-hosted Embedding has no cloud fallback by design — a connection saved without a baseUrl is reported as a configuration error rather than quietly falling back to api.openai.com, which would send your input text and API key to a third party under a provider named "Self-hosted".

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💡 Key Features

Feature	What It Does	Why It Matters
🚀 RTK Token Saver (RTK ⭐40K)	Compress tool outputs (git diff, grep, ls, tree...) before sending to LLM	Save 20-40% input tokens per request
🧠 Headroom Token Saver (Headroom)	Optional external /v1/compress proxy before provider routing	Save more context tokens without changing clients
🪨 Caveman Mode (Caveman ⭐52K)	Inject caveman-speak prompt → LLM replies terse, technical substance preserved	Save up to 65% output tokens
🐴 Ponytail (Ponytail)	Inject "lazy senior dev" prompt → LLM writes minimal, YAGNI-first code (Lite/Full/Ultra)	Fewer output tokens, less refactoring
🎯 Smart 3-Tier Fallback	Auto-route: Subscription → Cheap → Free	Never stop coding, zero downtime
📊 Real-Time Quota Tracking	Live token count + reset countdown	Maximize subscription value
🔄 Format Translation	OpenAI ↔ Claude ↔ Gemini ↔ Cursor ↔ Kiro ↔ Vertex	Works with any CLI tool
👥 Multi-Account Support	Multiple accounts per provider	Load balancing + redundancy
🔄 Auto Token Refresh	OAuth tokens refresh automatically	No manual re-login needed
🎨 Custom Combos	Create unlimited model combinations	Tailor fallback to your needs
📝 Request Logging	Debug mode with full request/response logs	Troubleshoot issues easily
💾 Cloud Sync	Sync config across devices	Same setup everywhere
📊 **Usag