Point the Cline VS Code extension at the platform with an OpenAI-compatible provider.
This guide connects Cline to the platform so you can reach Claude, GPT, Gemini and others with a single token. Three values are all you need: endpoint, token, model name.
Create a token (starting with sk-) in the console first and make sure the account has credit. New here? Start with your first request in 5 minutes.
Open Cline's settings, set API Provider to OpenAI Compatible (not Anthropic, not OpenAI), then fill in the three values below.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Base URL | https://api.router.ai/v1 |
| API Key | your sk- token |
| Model ID | claude-sonnet-5 |
Before running anything complex, just say hello and check you get a reply. To test the token on its own, call the API directly:
curl https://api.router.ai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk-your-token" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"model":"claude-sonnet-5","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hello"}]}'A JSON response containing choices means you are connected. The call shows up in your billing records shortly after.
Cline drives every step through tool calls, so the model must support function calling. Pick one without it and the symptom is: it chats fine but never reads or writes files. Any model marked with tool support works — e.g. claude-sonnet-5, gpt-5.5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, kimi-k3.
Wrong token, a stray space, or a copy that dropped the leading sk-. Copy it again in full.
Almost always the URL suffix. The OpenAI-compatible format needs a trailing /v1; the native Anthropic and Gemini formats must not have it. Check the table above.
The account is out of credit. See top-up methods.
Model names must match the catalog exactly, including case and hyphens. Copy the exact name from the models page.