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/ai-gateway

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by Vercel Labsvercel-labs/vercel-plugin295 stars
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Vercel AI Gateway guidance for setup, model discovery, authentication, routing, fallbacks, BYOK, budgets, spend reporting, observability, compatible APIs, and coding-agent configuration. Use when adding AI Gateway to an app, migrating provider calls, choosing models or providers, debugging gateway requests, or running `vercel ai-gateway` commands.

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Use this Skill: https://skilld.dev/gh/vercel-labs/vercel-plugin/ai-gateway

This session only. Nothing lands on disk.

SKILL.md

≈90 tokens always: the name and description. ≈2.6k when used: this file. ≈8.8k more on demand in 4 files.

Vercel AI Gateway

AI Gateway exposes models from multiple providers through shared authentication, model IDs, routing, billing, and observability. Model availability, SDK APIs, CLI commands, prices, and product capabilities change frequently. Verify them from current sources before changing code.

Start with current sources

Before implementing:

  1. Inspect the project's language, package manager, installed AI SDK version, and existing provider integration.

  2. Read the relevant Vercel page under https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway. Use the page's .md form when a tool needs Markdown.

  3. Fetch the complete live model list. Do not construct model variants by analogy:

    curl -fsSL https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/models

  4. If the code uses the ai package, load the ai-sdk skill when available. Read version-matched docs under node_modules/ai/docs/ and source under node_modules/ai/src/. If the skill is not installed, use those bundled files directly.

  5. Run vercel ai-gateway <command> --help before documenting or scripting CLI flags.

The live model endpoint and installed package take precedence over model names or SDK syntax remembered from training data.

Vercel CLI inventory

The vercel ai-gateway command manages gateway resources for the current team. The setup subcommand connects local coding agents; the rest of the CLI covers the jobs that previously required dashboard work:

Command What it does
api-keys create/list/inspect/remove Create and manage AI Gateway API keys, with budgets, spend alerts, expiry, and restriction exemptions
budgets set/list/inspect/remove Set metered spend limits for the team, a project, a user, or an API key
budgets defaults set/list/remove Set per-scope default limits covering projects, keys, or members without a custom budget
models list / models endpoints <model> List the model catalog and one model's provider endpoints from the CLI
virtual-models create/list/inspect/edit/remove/restore Manage reusable model configs (routing, fallbacks, tags) called as vmc/<slug>
rules add/list/edit/remove Manage routing rules; the CLI marks rules beta, so check --help before relying on them. REST CRUD exists under /v1/ai-gateway/rules
setup Configure supported coding agents; see references/coding-agents.md
leaderboard Explore public, anonymized usage leaderboards; rarely needed for implementation work

Use the CLI for credential and spend management when the user is working from a terminal or in CI. Check vercel ai-gateway <command> --help for current flags before scripting; do not copy a flag list from this skill into generated code.

Route the request to the right guide

User's job Read
Ask a coding agent to make one Gateway request, or handle first-request credentials, compatible SDKs, or migration references/setup.md
Provider selection, model fallbacks, caching, BYOK, or timeouts references/routing.md
Credits, budgets, reporting, Logs, or request debugging references/spend-observability.md
Route Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, or another coding agent's own model traffic through Gateway references/coding-agents.md

Read each relevant reference before editing. A task can require more than one.

Choose the integration surface

Existing project Default path
JavaScript or TypeScript using AI SDK Use a plain provider/model string with generateText, streamText, ToolLoopAgent, or the relevant modality API
Python using AI SDK for Python Use ai.get_model('provider/model') and the current Python SDK docs
Existing OpenAI SDK Keep the SDK and point baseURL or base_url to https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1
Existing Anthropic SDK Keep the SDK and point baseURL or base_url to https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh
Provider-neutral HTTP Use an AI Gateway compatible endpoint, such as Chat Completions or OpenResponses
Existing direct-provider AI SDK integration Replace the provider instance with a live AI Gateway provider/model string, then remove provider credentials only after verifying the gateway path
Coding agent Use vercel ai-gateway setup; inspect its help before claiming agent support

AI Gateway also supports OpenAI Responses, Anthropic Messages, OpenResponses, Cohere Rerank, embeddings, image and video generation, speech, transcription, realtime sessions, and evaluation. Modality pages under https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/modalities cover each request shape, including background jobs for long-running video generation. Read the relevant modality or API page instead of translating one request shape from memory.

Minimal AI SDK request

The current AI SDK requires Node.js 22 or later. Confirm the installed package's engines field before enforcing a version in an existing project.

import { generateText } from 'ai';

const model = process.env.AI_GATEWAY_MODEL;
if (!model) {
  throw new Error('Set AI_GATEWAY_MODEL to an ID returned by /v1/models');
}

const { text } = await generateText({
  model,
  prompt: 'Explain the project in one paragraph.',
});

console.log(text);

Honor an exact model the user or task specifies after confirming it exists. Otherwise fetch /v1/models, choose a model that fits the requested modality, capabilities, price, context window, data-retention policy, and team access, and set AI_GATEWAY_MODEL to that ID. Do not put a time-sensitive model recommendation in reusable examples.

Plain model strings route through AI Gateway. Add @ai-sdk/gateway only when the task needs its exported provider, types, model discovery, generation lookup, or spend-report helpers.

Authentication decision

  • Use an AI Gateway API key for local scripts, CI, external servers, and non-Vercel deployments. Store it in AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY and never print or commit it.
  • Use Vercel OIDC for Vercel deployments and linked local projects. Vercel deployments receive VERCEL_OIDC_TOKEN; local development uses vercel link and vercel env pull.
  • BYOK provider credentials do not replace AI Gateway request authentication. They decide how AI Gateway authenticates to a model provider.
  • A plain Node.js script does not automatically load .env.local. Export variables in the shell or load that file explicitly. Framework behavior may differ.

Do not ask the user to paste a secret into chat, source code, a committed config file, or a command that will enter shell history unless the repository has an established secure mechanism.

Implementation workflow

  1. Establish the user's job, runtime, deployment target, current provider, and required capabilities.
  2. Select authentication from the rules above. Preserve a working existing method unless the user asked to migrate it.
  3. Fetch live model metadata and choose a compatible model. State why it fits.
  4. Read the matching SDK, API, modality, routing, or coding-agent docs.
  5. Make the smallest end-to-end change. Reuse the current project structure and error handling.
  6. Handle only errors the application can act on. Common gateway outcomes include authentication failure, insufficient credits, budget exhaustion, rate limiting, and provider capacity failure.
  7. Run the project's formatter, type checker, and focused tests.
  8. When the task authorizes a live request, run one and inspect the returned model, text or media, usage, and provider metadata.
  9. Verify the request in AI Gateway Logs when dashboard access is available. Logs can take about 90 seconds to ingest.

Only spend credits, create keys, change budgets, change routing rules, or write coding-agent config when the user requested or approved that outward-facing action. Prefer dry runs and interactive previews when available.

Routing invariants

  • Model IDs use the exact provider/model strings returned by /v1/models.
  • order controls provider preference, only restricts providers, and sort ranks providers by a supported metric.
  • models lists fallback models after the primary model.
  • caching: 'auto' manages provider prompt-cache markers. It is not an HTTP response cache.
  • providerTimeouts applies to BYOK provider attempts and measures time until the provider starts responding.
  • A reasoning entry in providerOptions overrides the AI SDK top-level reasoning value entirely; the two never merge.
  • user and tags attach reporting dimensions. They do not create per-user rate limits.
  • Request-scoped provider credentials belong under providerOptions.gateway.byok and must remain secret.

Read references/routing.md before adding any of these fields.

Verification checklist

  • The model ID exists in the full live model response.
  • The selected API or SDK supports the requested modality and feature.
  • Authentication works in the actual runtime, including .env.local loading where relevant.
  • The example prints or returns a result instead of discarding the response.
  • The project type checker and focused tests pass.
  • A live request was made only when authorized, and its cost was understood.
  • Provider routing or fallback behavior is visible in response metadata or Logs.
  • No secret appears in source, logs, diffs, or the final response.
  • The final report distinguishes code verification from live and dashboard verification.

Current documentation

Source: SKILL.md on GitHub

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Provenance

Signed by skilld at 8fd4644. This ties the file your Agent reads to that commit on GitHub. It does not review the instructions.

Last checked against GitHub 9 hours ago.

Activeupdated last week

Capability

Other metadata
summary
Set up and operate Vercel AI Gateway with current models, correct authentication, routing, spend controls, and verification.
metadata
{
  "priority": 7,
  "docs": [
    "https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway",
    "https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started",
    "https://ai-sdk.dev/providers/ai-sdk-providers/ai-gateway"
  ],
  "sitemap": "https://vercel.com/docs/sitemap.md",
  "pathPatterns": [],
  "importPatterns": [
    "ai",
    "@ai-sdk/gateway"
  ],
  "bashPatterns": [
    "\\bvercel\\s+ai-gateway\\b",
    "\\bvercel\\s+env\\s+pull\\b",
    "\\bnpm\\s+(install|i|add)\\s+[^\\n]*@ai-sdk/gateway\\b",
    "\\bpnpm\\s+(install|i|add)\\s+[^\\n]*@ai-sdk/gateway\\b",
    "\\bbun\\s+(install|i|add)\\s+[^\\n]*@ai-sdk/gateway\\b",
    "\\byarn\\s+add\\s+[^\\n]*@ai-sdk/gateway\\b"
  ],
  "promptSignals": {
    "phrases": [
      "ai gateway",
      "vercel ai gateway",
      "ai-gateway",
      "ai-gateway.vercel.sh"
    ],
    "allOf": [
      [
        "model",
        "routing"
      ],
      [
        "provider",
        "failover"
      ],
      [
        "gateway",
        "budget"
      ],
      [
        "gateway",
        "logs"
      ],
      [
        "gateway",
        "oidc"
      ],
      [
        "coding",
        "gateway"
      ]
    ],
    "anyOf": [
      "provider ordering",
      "model fallback",
      "byok",
      "spend tracking",
      "gateway key",
      "credit balance",
      "safety identifier",
      "reasoning effort",
      "tool calling",
      "structured outputs"
    ],
    "noneOf": [
      "cloudflare ai gateway",
      "aws api gateway"
    ],
    "minScore": 6
  }
}
validate
[
  {
    "pattern": "\\bclaude-(sonnet|opus|haiku)-\\d+-\\d+\\b",
    "message": "Claude model version uses a hyphen where the AI Gateway slug uses a dot. Fetch /v1/models and use the returned provider/model ID.",
    "severity": "error"
  },
  {
    "pattern": "gateway\\(['\"][^'\"/]+['\"]\\)",
    "message": "AI Gateway model string is missing its provider prefix. Fetch /v1/models and use a provider/model ID.",
    "severity": "error"
  },
  {
    "pattern": "(OPENAI_API_KEY|ANTHROPIC_API_KEY|GOOGLE_API_KEY)",
    "message": "Provider key detected. AI Gateway request authentication uses AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or VERCEL_OIDC_TOKEN; provider keys belong only in an intentional BYOK configuration.",
    "severity": "recommended",
    "skipIfFileContains": "[Bb][Yy][Oo][Kk]|providerOptions\\s*:\\s*\\{[^}]*gateway"
  },
  {
    "pattern": "gateway\\s*:\\s*\\{[^}]*cacheControl",
    "message": "AI Gateway does not cache whole responses through cacheControl. Use caching: 'auto' for provider prompt caching and verify the current caching docs.",
    "severity": "error"
  },
  {
    "pattern": "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL\\s*=\\s*[\"']?https://ai-gateway\\.vercel\\.sh",
    "message": "Claude Code through AI Gateway needs ANTHROPIC_API_KEY set to an empty value and the gateway key in ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN. A non-empty ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is used instead of the gateway token.",
    "severity": "recommended",
    "skipIfFileContains": "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN"
  }
]
chainTo
[
  {
    "pattern": "from\\s+['\"]ai['\"]|require\\(['\"]ai['\"]\\)|\\b(generateText|streamText|ToolLoopAgent)\\b",
    "targetSkill": "ai-sdk",
    "message": "AI SDK code detected. Load the AI SDK skill and read the installed package docs before writing or changing SDK code."
  }
]
retrieval
{
  "aliases": [
    "model router",
    "ai proxy",
    "provider failover",
    "llm gateway",
    "gateway credits"
  ],
  "intents": [
    "add Vercel AI Gateway to an application",
    "route AI models across providers",
    "configure provider or model fallbacks",
    "authenticate AI Gateway requests",
    "track AI model costs and set budgets",
    "debug AI Gateway requests and routing",
    "connect coding agents to AI Gateway",
    "find a model by modality, capability, price, or data retention",
    "check AI Gateway credit balance or generation cost",
    "configure reasoning or extended thinking across providers and API formats",
    "add tool calling or function calling across API formats",
    "get structured JSON output matching a schema",
    "send images or PDFs to a model"
  ],
  "entities": [
    "AI Gateway",
    "AI Gateway Credits",
    "providerOptions.gateway",
    "AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY",
    "VERCEL_OIDC_TOKEN",
    "model routing",
    "provider failover",
    "BYOK",
    "spend reporting",
    "safetyIdentifier",
    "Usage & Billing API"
  ]
}

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