BitRouter

Agent-native LLM router that optimizes your agent with every run. Zero harness changes — every model call reliable, traceable, secure, and cost-effective.

Install

# macOS / Linux
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/bitrouter/bitrouter/releases/latest/download/bitrouter-installer.sh | sh

# Homebrew
brew install bitrouter/tap/bitrouter

# npm
npm install -g bitrouter

cargo install bitrouter

Quick Start

Local (BYOK)

Set your provider API keys and start:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...    # ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / GOOGLE_API_KEY also work
bitrouter start
# Proxy running at http://localhost:4356

BitRouter auto-detects any key set in the environment — no config file needed. Point your agent runtime at http://localhost:4356 and any provider whose key is present is immediately available.

For advanced routing rules, guardrails, or multi-account failover, scaffold a config file:

bitrouter init          # writes ./bitrouter.yaml (override with `-c <path>`)
bitrouter start

Cloud

Sign in to your BitRouter Cloud account from the terminal — one OAuth account covers every model the gateway offers, no upstream provider keys required:

bitrouter auth login    # RFC 8628 device flow against api.bitrouter.ai
bitrouter start         # `bitrouter` provider auto-enables once signed in

Manage keys, usage, billing, policies, and BYOK from the same CLI — see bitrouter cloud --help or CLI.md.

Features

• Multi-provider routing — unified access to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter, OpenCode Zen / Go, BitRouter Cloud, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT Codex, and Amazon Bedrock; configure multiple accounts per provider with failover or round-robin load-balancing (sdk · providers)
• Cross-protocol routing — any client protocol (Chat Completions, Responses, Messages, Generate Content) against any upstream; BitRouter translates transparently (sdk)
• Zero-config — auto-detects providers from environment variables; no config file needed to get started (providers)
• MCP gateway — proxy for MCP servers; agents discover and call tools across hosts (sdk)
• ACP integration — manage coding agent sessions (Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI) via the CLI (sdk)
• Agent guardrails — inspect, redact, or block risky content at the proxy layer (guardrails)
• Observability — per-request spend tracking, Prometheus metrics, and OTLP export (observe)
• Virtual keys — mint scoped brvk_ API keys with bitrouter key sign, persisted to SQLite, PostgreSQL, or MySQL
• Custom providers — add any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible upstream via config

Supported Providers

| Provider | Status | Notes | | --------------- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | OpenAI | ✅ | Chat Completions + Responses API | | Anthropic | ✅ | Messages API + Claude Pro/Max subscription (PKCE) | | Google | ✅ | Generative AI API | | Amazon Bedrock | ✅ | Via AWS SDK (opt-in) | | OpenRouter | ✅ | Chat Completions + Responses API | | OpenCode Zen | ✅ | Curated models across Chat Completions, Messages, and Generate Content protocols | | OpenCode Go | ✅ | Low-cost subscription for open coding models | | BitRouter Cloud | ✅ | OAuth sign-in (bitrouter auth login); cloud-managed routing | | GitHub Copilot | ✅ | GitHub OAuth device flow (bitrouter login github-copilot) | | ChatGPT Codex | ✅ | ChatGPT subscription PKCE (bitrouter login openai-codex) |

Want to see another provider? Open an issue or submit a PR. If you're a provider interested in first-party integration, reach out on Discord.

Any agent runtime that supports a custom OpenAI or Anthropic base URL works with BitRouter out of the box — point it at http://localhost:4356. Building an agent runtime? We partner with teams on native integrations — email contact@bitrouter.ai or book a meeting with the founder.

Comparison

| | BitRouter | OpenRouter | LiteLLM | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------------------ | | Architecture | Local-first proxy + optional cloud | Cloud-only SaaS | Local proxy (Python) | | Language | Rust | Closed-source | Python | | Self-hosted | Yes | No | Yes | | Agent-native | Yes — built for autonomous agent runtimes | No — human-facing gateway | Partial — SDK-oriented | | Agent protocols | MCP + ACP | No | MCP | | Agent guardrails | Built-in (inspect, redact, block) | Yes | Yes | | Cross-protocol routing| Yes (e.g. OpenAI format → Anthropic upstream)| Provider-specific | Yes (unified interface) | | Observability | CLI + per-request cost tracking + Prometheus| Web dashboard | Logging + callbacks + WebUI | | Extensibility | Trait-based SDK — import and compose crates | API only | Python middleware | | Performance | ~10ms | ~30ms (cloud) | ~500ms | | License | Apache 2.0 | Proprietary | Apache 2.0 |

TL;DR — OpenRouter is a cloud API marketplace for humans picking models. LiteLLM is a Python proxy for unifying provider SDKs. BitRouter is a Rust-native proxy purpose-built for autonomous agents — with cross-protocol routing, MCP and ACP support, and guardrails out of the box.

CLI

bitrouter start / stop / restart / reload      # daemon lifecycle
bitrouter status                               # pid, listen address, active models
bitrouter route <model>                        # trace how a model name resolves
bitrouter models [--provider <id>]            # list routable models
bitrouter providers list                       # list configured providers
bitrouter tools list / status / discover       # MCP server introspection
bitrouter agents list / check / install        # ACP agent management
bitrouter key sign --user <id>                 # mint a scoped brvk_ API key
bitrouter policy create <id>                   # scaffold a routing policy
bitrouter init                                 # scaffold bitrouter.yaml
bitrouter login <provider>                     # upstream-provider OAuth (anthropic, openai-codex, github-copilot, …)
bitrouter auth login / logout / whoami         # BitRouter Cloud sign-in (RFC 8628 device flow)
bitrouter cloud keys / usage / billing / …     # manage keys, usage, billing, policies, BYOK against BitRouter Cloud

See CLI.md for flags, config resolution, and examples.

Documentation

• CLI.md — full CLI reference with flags and examples
• DEVELOPMENT.md — workspace architecture and SDK internals
• CONTRIBUTING.md — contribution workflow, issue reporting, and provider updates
• CLAUDE.md — guidance for AI coding agents working in this repository

Roadmap

• [x] Core routing engine and provider abstractions
• [x] OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Amazon Bedrock adapters
• [x] Zero-config auto-detection from environment variables
• [x] Custom provider support (OpenAI-compatible / Anthropic-compatible)
• [x] Cross-protocol routing (e.g. OpenAI format → Anthropic provider)
• [x] MCP gateway and ACP agent integration
• [x] Multiple accounts per provider — failover + load-balancing
• [x] Virtual key management (bitrouter key) backed by SQLite / PostgreSQL / MySQL
• [ ] Telemetry and usage analytics
• [ ] Provider & model routing policy customization

Star History

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.