OpenRouter Setup

Atom sends every automation through your OpenRouter account. Here’s the quickest way to get ready.

1. Create your account

  • Go to openrouter.ai and sign up (it’s free to start).
  • Verify your email so you can create keys and manage credits.

2. Add a small balance or limit

OpenRouter includes free trial credits when you sign up, so you can start testing Atom without adding funds.

  • Visit Settings → Credits and top up, or set a spending limit that fits your comfort level.
  • You can adjust it any time. Start low, watch usage, and scale as needed.

3. Generate a key

  • Head to Settings → Keys and create a key for Atom (it will look like sk-or-…).
  • Copy it immediately; OpenRouter only shows each key once.

4. Paste it into Atom

  • Atom prompts for the key after you sign in. Paste it and you’re ready.
  • Need to update later? Open Settings → OpenRouter API key inside Atom.

Keep an eye on usage

  • Dashboard: openrouter.ai/activity
  • Limits: set daily or monthly caps in Settings → Limits so spending always matches your plan.
  • If requests slow down, check the dashboard first. Low credit or rate limits are the usual culprits.

Use your own API keys

OpenRouter supports using your own API keys from providers like OpenAI, Google, xAI, and others. Add them to your OpenRouter account and requests route through those keys instead of your OpenRouter balance. Learn more about BYOK.

Free tokens via OpenAI: OpenAI’s data sharing program grants complimentary daily tokens (up to 1M on larger models, 10M on smaller ones for most tiers). Enable under Settings → Data sharing in your OpenAI account and the allowance applies automatically.

Quick fixes

  • Key says invalid: make sure it still exists and starts with sk-or-, then paste it again.
  • Requests stopped: top up credits or raise the limit; try again after a minute if you hit rate limits.
  • Costs creeping up: combine steps into one prompt and reuse conversations instead of starting fresh.

Need more detail? OpenRouter offers full docs and support at openrouter.ai/docs.

Privacy

Atom sends project structure (layer names, properties, expressions) and your chat messages through the API. Source footage and rendered pixels in your After Effects project stay on your machine unless you explicitly attach them.

When you attach files to chat (images, PDFs, audio, documents, etc.), those files are sent through OpenRouter to the AI model provider. Video is not currently supported. Only attach files you’re comfortable sharing with the AI service. Files not explicitly attached remain private on your machine.