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Use SteadyRouter with Open WebUI

Add SteadyRouter to Open WebUI as an OpenAI API connection. One connection gives you every model on SteadyRouter, so add an allowlist of the models you use.

Before you start

1. Create a SteadyRouter account.
2. In the console, open API Keys and copy your key. New accounts come with one called Default Key, on Lowest price (see below). To make another, click Create API Key. Keep Smart routing on: if a group fails, the request is retried in the next group within the same call. A new key starts on Auto, or on Lowest price if your balance is under US$1.
3. Pick the models you want on Model Square, for example gpt-5-mini and claude-sonnet-5-5.

Add the connection

1. Click your profile picture in the bottom-left corner, open Settings, and under Admin choose Connections.
2. Next to Manage OpenAI API Connections, click + (Add Connection).
3. URL:
   URLCopy

   https://api.steadyrouter.com/v1

4. API Key (next to Bearer): your SteadyRouter key. Leave API Type on Chat Completions.
5. Click the ↻ button next to the URL (Verify Connection). You should see Server connection verified.
6. Open Advanced. Under Model IDs, type each model name you want into Add a model ID and click +. SteadyRouter has hundreds of models, and without an allowlist all of them appear in the model selector.
7. Click Save.

Or set it when you start the container

docker run -d -p 3000:8080 \
  -e OPENAI_API_BASE_URL=https://api.steadyrouter.com/v1 \
  -e OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... \
  -v open-webui:/app/backend/data \
  --name open-webui ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main

Trying it on a small balance

New accounts currently start with US$0.05 of credit. Before each request, the gateway reserves balance based on the input plus the maximum output the request asks for. To make a small balance last:

1. Use Lowest price under Smart routing on your API key. Default Key is already on it; for another key, choose it when you create the key or later by editing it.
2. Start with a smaller model. On Lowest price, a request to claude-haiku-5-5 or gpt-5-mini costs a small fraction of the same request to larger models such as claude-sonnet-5-5, gpt-5.5 or claude-opus-5-5.

Open WebUI also uses a model in the background for chat titles, tags and follow-up suggestions; by default it's the model you're chatting with. To save balance, open Settings → Admin → Interface and, under Tasks, set External Task Model to a small model.

Once you've confirmed everything works, add funds, and switch the key back to Auto if you prefer.

Lowest price often puts Pool groups first: usually cheaper, sometimes less stable. In every smart routing mode, Pool and Mixed groups can be used, so for stability-critical work, turn smart routing off and list only cloud or API groups on the key. See Models and groups.

If something goes wrong

Every error message ends with a request id. Include it when you email support@steadyrouter.com.

More: API docs · Model Square