OpenRouter MCP server

The OpenRouter MCP Server provides seamless integration with OpenRouter.ai's diverse model ecosystem. It offers a unified, type-safe interface to access various AI models with built-in caching, rate limiting, and error handling capabilities.

Features

• Model Access: Direct access to all OpenRouter.ai models, automatic model validation and capability checking, default model configuration support
• Performance Optimization: Smart model information caching (1-hour expiry), automatic rate limit management, exponential backoff for failed requests
• Robust Error Handling: Detailed error messages with context, rate limit detection and recovery, network timeout handling with retries

Installation

Install the server using npm:

npm install @mcpservers/openrouterai

Configuration

Prerequisites

• Get your OpenRouter API key from OpenRouter Keys
• Choose a default model (optional)

Setup

Add to your MCP settings configuration file (cline_mcp_settings.json or claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openrouterai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@mcpservers/openrouterai"],
      "env": {
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
        "OPENROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL": "optional-default-model"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

chat_completion

Send messages to OpenRouter.ai models:

{
  "model": "string",          // Optional if default model is set
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "system" | "user" | "assistant",
      "content": "string"
    }
  ],
  "temperature": "number"    // Optional (0-2), defaults to
}

search_models

Search and filter available models:

{
  "query": "string",          // Search in name/description
  "provider": "string",       // Filter by provider
  "minContextLength": "number",
  "maxContextLength": "number",
  "maxPromptPrice": "number",
  "maxCompletionPrice": "number",
  "capabilities": {
    "functions": "boolean",   // Function calling support
    "tools": "boolean",       // Tool use support
    "vision": "boolean",      // Image processing support
    "json_mode": "boolean"    // JSON mode support
  },
  "limit": "number"          // Default: 10, max: 50
}

get_model_info

Get detailed information about a specific model:

{
  "model": "string"           // Model identifier
}

validate_model

Check if a model ID is valid:

{
  "model": "string"           // Model identifier to validate
}

Rate Limiting

The server implements intelligent rate limit handling:

• Tracks remaining requests through response headers
• Automatically waits when rate limits are reached
• Implements exponential backoff for failed requests
• Provides clear error messages for rate limit issues

Error Handling

The server uses McpError for MCP-specific errors with clear messages:

• Invalid model errors
• API rate limiting
• Authentication issues
• Network errors
• Invalid parameter errors

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "openrouterai" '{"command":"npx","args":["@mcpservers/openrouterai"],"env":{"OPENROUTER_API_KEY":"your-api-key-here","OPENROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL":"optional-default-model"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "openrouterai": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@mcpservers/openrouterai"
            ],
            "env": {
                "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
                "OPENROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL": "optional-default-model"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "openrouterai": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@mcpservers/openrouterai"
            ],
            "env": {
                "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
                "OPENROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL": "optional-default-model"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect