Connect your **OpenRouter**: start from the Connect button in the portal, then approve the sign-in.

## Steps

1. In the portal, open Connections and click Connect OpenRouter. Choose what it pays for: everything, or free models only.
2. Sign in to OpenRouter, or create a free account, and approve the Syndai key. No key to copy or paste. ([open the page](https://openrouter.ai/auth))
3. You land back on Connections with OpenRouter connected. A free account gets 50 free-model requests a day; a one-time $10 on OpenRouter raises that to 1,000 a day. Free models are noticeably weaker than Syndai's default.

## Verifying

Checked for free via `GET /api/v1/key` on connect and on every card view, which also reads today's free-model requests.

## If it doesn't work

If OpenRouter stops accepting the key (it was deleted or revoked), the card shows Reconnect: click it and approve again. Free models need free-model providers allowed in your OpenRouter privacy settings.

## What we store and how to disconnect

We store the encrypted key OpenRouter issued for Syndai. Disconnect scrubs it from Syndai; to revoke it upstream, use Revoke on OpenRouter on the card, which opens that key's page.