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Quickstart Guide

This quickstart guide will help you integrate Routstr into your application quickly.

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Choose Your Path

For Users

I want to use AI models through Routstr

For Providers

I want to offer my AI models on Routstr

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For Users: Quick Integration

1

Buy Cashu tokens

Purchase AI credits directly with Lightning or on-chain Bitcoin:

# Visit the Routstr token purchase page
https://routstr.com/tokens

No account or sign-up required. Simply make a Lightning payment to receive your token.

2

Receive token instantly

After payment, you’ll receive a Cashu token to use as your API authorization key:

ROUTSTR_TOKEN=cashuA1DkpMbgQ9VkL6U...

This token contains pre-paid credits for API usage.

3

Make API calls directly

Use the token in your API calls with our OpenAI-compatible endpoint:

curl -X POST https://api.routstr.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cashuA1DkpMbgQ9VkL6U..." \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4",
    "messages": [
      {
        "role": "user", 
        "content": "Hello"
      }
    ]
  }'

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For Providers: Quick Setup

1

Set up your proxy

Deploy our self-hosted proxy in front of any OpenAI-compatible endpoint with a simple Docker command:

docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/routstr/proxy
2

Connect payments

Configure your Cashu mint or Lightning node to accept pre-paid tokens. No need for Stripe or KYC:

# Edit the proxy configuration file
nano config.json

# Add your payment configuration
{
  "payments": {
    "lightning": {
      "address": "your@lightning.address"
    },
    "cashu": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
3

Monitor and scale

Track usage, set custom pricing, and join the relay network to get discovered by users automatically:

# Announce your provider to the Nostr network
routstr-proxy announce --name "Your Provider" --models "gpt-4,llama-3"

# Monitor usage statistics
routstr-proxy stats

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System Architecture

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Next Steps

API Reference

Detailed API endpoint documentation

Provider Configuration

Learn about all provider configuration options

Privacy Features

Learn about Routstr’s privacy and routing features

Roadmap

View the Routstr Improvement Proposals (RIPs)