Helicone AI Gateway is currently only available as a self-hosted solution. Our cloud-based solution is coming soon.

1

Configure provider secrets

To get started, you’ll need to configure the provider secrets for the providers you want to use.

Simply export your API keys as environment variables:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=your-api-key
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-api-key
2

Start the Gateway

npx @helicone/ai-gateway@latest

The Gateway will be running on http://localhost:8080 and has three routes:

  • /ai for a standard OpenAI-compatible Unified API that works out of the box
  • /router/{router-name} for advanced Unified API with custom routing logic and load balancing
  • /{provider-name} for direct access to a specific provider without routing
3

Make your first request

Let’s start with a simple request to the pre-configured /ai route. Don’t worry, we’ll show you how to create custom routers next!

import { OpenAI } from "openai";

const openai = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: "http://localhost:8080/ai",
  apiKey: "fake-api-key", // Required by SDK, but gateway handles real auth
});

const response = await openai.chat.completions.create({
  model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini", // 100+ models available
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello, world!" }],
});

console.log(response);

Try switching models! Simply change the model parameter to "anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet" to use Anthropic instead of OpenAI. Same API, different provider - that’s the power of the unified interface!

You’re all set! 🎉

Your AI Gateway is now ready to handle requests across 100+ AI models!

4

Optional: Enable Helicone observability

Gain detailed tracing and insights into your AI usage directly from your Gateway.

Just add the following environment variables to your Gateway configuration:

export HELICONE_CONTROL_PLANE_API_KEY=your-api-key

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Next step:

Great job getting your Gateway started! The next step is making it work exactly how you want.

Interested in adding new providers, balancing request loads, or caching responses for efficiency?

Router Quickstart

Build custom routers with load balancing, caching, and multiple environments in 5 minutes