This changelog covers the major features, improvements, and milestones shipped to the Router One platform. We update this page as new releases go live.
August 2026
Grok 4.20 Left the Catalog; Its Comparison Pair Retired (August 26)
The Grok 4.20 non-reasoning tier is no longer in the catalog, so the Grok API page lineup now lists grok-4.6 and grok-4.5 and the Grok 4.20 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash comparison pair was retired, following the Kimi precedent. Model comparisons also gained an answer capsule under each title, a dated "rates read from the live catalog" stamp beside the spec table, catalog-filtered related pairs, and links to the family landing pages, the cost calculator and the pricing methodology.
Nano Banana 2 API Guide and an API Reference Refresh (August 25)
A new Nano Banana 2 API guide covers gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview end to end: text-to-image at POST /v1/images/generations, reference-image edits at POST /v1/images/edits, flat per-image pricing, and when to pick it over Nano Banana Pro (gemini-3-pro-image-preview); the image generation API page now carries both names on its Gemini cards. The API reference was brought in line with the gateway: GET /v1/models is documented, error bodies show the UPPER_SNAKE_CASE code values and the request_id the gateway actually returns, the 429 rows say to read Retry-After and name the three quota codes, a new section lists the rate-limit response headers, /v1/messages documents its 400 in the Anthropic error envelope for a model outside the Claude and DeepSeek V4 families, and the image and video examples use catalog model IDs with the fixed clip specs. The Codex / Responses API page explains the codex-auto-review model ID Codex sends for /review.
Video Page Rewritten, Four New Comparison Pairs, and Gemini 3.1 Flash Image in the Image Lineup (August 24)
The video generation page now leads with the video models the catalog actually carries and the fixed clip each one produces, and states plainly that Veo and Grok Video are not in the catalog. The image generation API page names Gemini 3.1 Flash Image alongside gpt-image-2, Gemini 3 Pro Image, Doubao Seedream and the two Grok Imagine entries, and documents reference-image edits at POST /v1/images/edits. The error codes page opens with a 400 row covering a model called on the wrong endpoint. Model comparisons gained four pairs — DeepSeek V4 Pro vs DeepSeek V4 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro vs GPT-5.6 Sol, Grok 4.20 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash (which has since left the catalog — Grok 4.20 was delisted on 2026-08-26 and the pair retired with it), and MiniMax M2.7 vs GLM-5.2 — while three Kimi pairs were retired, because Kimi is not in the catalog.
Six Video Models, Each with a Fixed Clip Length and Resolution (August 23)
viduq3-turbo (5s, 720p), viduq3-turbo-540p (4s, 540p), pixverse-video (5s, 540p), MiniMax-Hailuo-2.3 and MiniMax-Hailuo-02 (6s, 768P), and wan2.6-i2v (5s, 720P, image-to-video — exactly one image_url) are served at POST /v1/videos/generations: submit a task, poll it by ID, download the clip. Each model produces one fixed combination of clip length and resolution, so a duration or size field in the request body changes nothing about the clip you get, and every job costs one flat per-clip unit price recorded in its request trace. Live prices are on the models page under the video category; the lineup and call shape are on the video generation page.
Gemini Image Models: Generation and Reference-Image Edits (August 23)
The catalog's two Gemini image entries — gemini-3-pro-image-preview and gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview — serve text-to-image at POST /v1/images/generations after a fix to the gateway's image path, and both list image input, so either one takes a reference image at POST /v1/images/edits (multipart/form-data, the file in the image field). Both are unit-priced per generated image like the rest of the image lineup. Details are on the image generation API page.
Claude Model IDs Rejected on /v1/responses with a 400 (August 23)
A Claude-family model ID sent to /v1/responses is now rejected with a 400 invalid_request_error before any model is called — model '<id>' must be called via /v1/messages or /v1/chat/completions — so the mistake costs no tokens and returns a message that names the fix. /v1/responses is served natively for GPT and DeepSeek V4 models; Claude models answer on /v1/messages and on /v1/chat/completions. Each model's detail page lists the endpoints it speaks, and the full endpoint-by-family map is on the API compatibility fact sheet.
An Empty Reply That Reports Usage Is Served as 200 (August 23)
A reply that carries no content, no tool calls and no refusal but reports token usage is a completed response, not a failure: it is returned as HTTP 200 exactly as it came back, with no retry and no failover, and settlement follows the usage the response reports. Don't auto-retry it — read finish_reason, refusal and usage on the reply, since a retry loop pays for the same silence again. A reply that reports no usage at all is still treated as an upstream failure: the gateway tries the next candidate and returns a 502 when none succeeds. The troubleshooting answer is on the error codes page.
Structured Outputs Guide, Responses Endpoint Matrix, Gemini 3.7 Flash Comparison Pairs, an API Compatibility Fact Sheet, and Five More Markdown Mirrors (August 22)
A new LLM structured outputs guide documents response_format on the OpenAI-compatible endpoint — what the gateway validates before any upstream call, and why schema enforcement is model-side. The Codex / Responses API page gained an endpoint matrix listing which Responses request features are accepted and which are rejected. Model comparisons gained two Gemini 3.7 Flash pairs: Gemini 3.7 Flash vs GPT-5.4 mini and Gemini 3.7 Flash vs Gemini 3.6 Flash. A machine-readable API compatibility fact sheet states which endpoint families serve which model families. And five trust pages — Security, Data retention, Routing methodology, Pricing methodology, and the China latency benchmark — now ship .md mirrors, so AI crawlers read exactly the same copy as the rendered pages.
Structured Outputs: json_schema Passthrough on Chat Completions (August 20)
response_format with type: "json_schema" is now validated at the gateway and forwarded to the model unchanged. A request whose json_schema block is missing its name or schema is rejected with a 400 invalid_request_error before any upstream call — response_format.json_schema.name is required / response_format.json_schema.schema is required — so a malformed request costs no tokens. json_object mode was already passed through. Enforcement is model-side: the output is constrained when the model supports it, so parse and validate on the client. When a model route rejects a schema that uses $defs or $ref, the gateway treats the rejection as a candidate-specific 400 and fails over to the next candidate for the same model. Details and request shapes are on the structured outputs guide.
Responses API: Hosted Tools, File Inputs, Service Tiers, and Server-Side Context Accepted (August 19)
On /v1/responses, requests that use custom tools, previous_response_id, conversation, prompt, hosted tools (file_search, code_interpreter, computer_use, mcp, web_search), file_id / file_url input parts, and any service_tier value are now accepted on models whose detail page lists POST /v1/responses, billed at the model's standard rate. Function tools were already supported. Still rejected with a 400 invalid_request_error: the image_generation tool and image_generation_call items (use /v1/images/generations instead) and background: true. The full matrix is on the Codex / Responses API page.
Gemini 3.7 Flash Listed in the Catalog (August 17)
google/gemini-3.7-flash joined the catalog with chat, streaming, tool calling, and vision, and a 1M-token context window. Live rates are on its model page.
New-Model Wave Coverage: Five Comparison Pairs, an August 2026 Model Guide, n8n and Immersive Translate Integration Guides, and an SLA Markdown Mirror (August 16)
The August 2026 new-model guide is the narrative companion to the catalog's current generation — Claude Opus 5, the GPT-5.6 family, Grok 4.6, Kimi K3 (which has since left the catalog), and DeepSeek V4 Flash — with a route-key A/B pattern for trying them through one key. Two client guides went live: n8n, the workflow automation platform — point its OpenAI credential's Base URL at the gateway and every step's model call lands in one ledger under a per-key maxSpend cap — and Immersive Translate, the bilingual browser translation extension, whose custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint takes the full /chat/completions path. The Grok API page lineup now covers Grok 4.6, and the SLA page ships a markdown mirror for AI crawlers. Model comparisons gained five pairs: Grok 4.6 vs GPT-5.6 Sol, Grok 4.6 vs GPT-5.6 Terra, Grok 4.6 vs Grok 4.5, GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra, and Doubao Seed 2.0 Lite vs DeepSeek V4 Flash — all rendered from the live catalog.
DeepSeek V4 on the Anthropic-Compatible /v1/messages Endpoint (August 15)
deepseek-v4-pro and deepseek-v4-flash now answer on /v1/messages, the Anthropic wire-format endpoint Claude Code uses — so Claude Code can point at either model with the same base URL and key it already uses for the Claude family. /v1/chat/completions continues to serve every chat model; each model's detail page lists the endpoints it speaks.
Zed, Continue, and Open WebUI Integration Guides, a Grok API Page, and Three New Comparison Pairs (August 12)
The client integration catalog grew by three: Zed, Continue, and Open WebUI each got a setup guide with the exact configuration shape the current client version expects, verified against the live client rather than transcribed from old docs. A dedicated Grok API access page covers calling the Grok family through the gateway, including mainland-China reachability. And the model comparison set gained three pairs: Claude Fable 5 vs Claude Opus 5, Claude Fable 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol, and Grok 4.5 vs GPT-5.5 — all rendered from the live catalog so specs and rates cannot go stale.
Cursor and OpenClaw Integration Guides (August 7)
Two more setup guides went live: Cursor, covering the custom base URL and key configuration that shares one wallet and one request trace with the CLI tools, and OpenClaw, covering how to point the agent at the OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Both pages ship bilingual.
Invoicing for Hosted-Checkout Top-Ups (August 4)
Invoicing policy is now uniform: any top-up completed through the hosted checkout (card or Alipay) can be invoiced — ordinary pay-as-you-go wallet top-ups included, not only enterprise or subscription accounts. Stablecoin top-ups are a separate rail and are outside the invoicing scope. To request an invoice, email support@router.one with your account ID.
July 2026
One-Click Claude Code and Codex Setup, Plus Quickstart and FAQ Guides (July 24)
Connecting a CLI no longer means hand-editing config files. A single install command configures Claude Code (writing the gateway base URL and auth token into the env block of ~/.claude/settings.json) or Codex CLI (writing ~/.codex/config.toml with env_key and appending the key export to your shell profile). Scripts ship for macOS, Linux, and Windows PowerShell. The docs gained two companion pages: a quickstart that gets a first request out in five minutes across both protocol surfaces, and an FAQ and troubleshooting guide covering base-URL selection and 401/402/429 debugging.
Alipay on the Hosted Checkout, with a Free Amount Input (July 24)
Wallet top-ups now run through one hosted checkout that offers a card or Alipay, and the amount field accepts any value instead of only fixed tiers. Top up with a card or Alipay through one hosted checkout, or with USDT/USDC on six chains (Tron, BSC, Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum). No US credit card required.
Image and Video Generation Scenario Pages (July 18)
Three new surfaces cover generation workloads: the image generation API page for text-to-image models behind the OpenAI-compatible endpoint, the Veo video API page for asynchronous video generation, and a bilingual blog guide for calling both from China. Media models are priced per generated image or clip rather than per token, and each model's unit price lives in the model catalog.
Automatic Site Language Detection (July 10)
The marketing site now negotiates language on a first visit using the browser's Accept-Language header, and remembers a manual switch for a year. English stays at the apex and Chinese under /zh, so every page keeps one canonical URL per locale.
June 2026
Playground Experience Upgrade with Image Generation
The playground received a full experience upgrade. Streaming responses render more smoothly with polished markdown and code highlighting, errors come with actionable next steps, Esc stops a generation in progress, and the model selector shows per-call pricing. Image generation is now a first-class playground mode: pick an image model, write a prompt, optionally attach up to four reference images, and generate directly in the conversation flow.
Four New Landing Pages and Expanded Machine-Readable Facts
Four new bilingual landing pages went live — /smart-routing, /llm-cost-tracking, /helicone-alternative, and /use-cases/ai-coding-tools — completing the gateway content cluster. The machine-readable facts surface also expanded with /facts/routing.md and /facts/pricing.md, plus markdown mirrors for the gateway and comparison pages, so AI crawlers read exactly the same copy as the rendered pages.
CC Switch GUI Setup Guide
The docs now include a guide for CC Switch, a GUI tool that configures Claude Code and OpenAI Codex base URLs and API keys without hand-editing config files. The guide is available in English and Chinese.
May 2026
Subscription Plans Launch
Pro, Max, and Ultra subscription plans went live on May 21 for teams that want predictable monthly pricing. Wallet pay-per-token billing remains available unchanged — subscriptions run alongside it, not in place of it. Full details are in the launch announcement.
April 2026
Google and GitHub OAuth Login
You can now sign in to Router One using your Google or GitHub account. This complements the existing email-based authentication and makes onboarding faster for developers who already use these identity providers. OAuth and email sign-in reach the same Router One account and dashboard; Router One does not currently expose an organization/RBAC management layer.
Google Search Console Integration
We have integrated Google Search Console verification and sitemap management into the platform. This is part of our ongoing effort to improve the discoverability of Router One's documentation and public-facing pages. For users building on our platform, this also means better SEO tooling for any documentation or landing pages served through Router One.
Improved Dashboard Performance
The main dashboard now loads 40 percent faster thanks to server-side rendering optimizations and lazy loading of chart components. Usage graphs and cost breakdowns render incrementally, so you see critical numbers immediately without waiting for the full page to hydrate.
March 2026
Model Marketplace with Detailed Pricing
The new model marketplace gives you a clear view of every LLM available through Router One, with real-time pricing per input token and output token, capability tags, and context window sizes. Compare models side by side and make informed routing decisions without leaving the dashboard.
At launch the marketplace listed models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, DeepSeek, and Meta. The catalog turns over continuously — the models page is the source of truth for what is callable today.
Full i18n Support: English and Chinese
The entire Router One dashboard and documentation are now available in both English and Chinese. Language selection is automatic based on browser locale and can be overridden in account settings. All UI text, error messages, help content, and API documentation are fully translated — not machine-translated, but reviewed by native speakers for accuracy and clarity.
Real-Time Usage Dashboard
The usage dashboard now updates in real time with no manual refresh required. Watch token consumption, cost accrual, and request volume as they happen. The dashboard includes:
- Per-model breakdown — see exactly how much each model is costing you
- Per-key breakdown — give each project, tool, or team a separate key and track its usage
- Per-request traces — inspect model, token, cost, latency, status, and key metadata
- Time-series charts — visualize trends over hours, days, or weeks
- Anomaly indicators — automatic highlighting when usage deviates significantly from historical patterns
Landing Page Redesign
The public-facing website received a complete redesign with improved messaging, faster load times, and a clearer explanation of Router One's value proposition: smart routing, automatic fallback, and per-request observability for LLM API traffic from mainland China.
February 2026
Provider Route Selection and Health Signals
The core routing engine is now live. A request names a model and the gateway selects an eligible provider route. Server-side adaptive strategies can use recent EWMA latency, posted cost, and reliability signals when ranking configured candidates.
The public Dashboard does not expose project-level or API-key routing weights. Candidate policy is configured on the gateway, while the request trace records the final model and provider.
Automatic Failover
When a provider returns a retryable supply, rate-limit, service, or timeout failure, Router One can try another eligible candidate. Health state and cooldowns help deprioritize degraded routes and reintroduce them after recovery.
Actual fallback time includes the failed attempt and the next provider response, so there is no universal millisecond guarantee. The Dashboard records the final route and request metrics; operations can correlate failed attempts by request ID.
WeChat and Alipay Payment Integration
Superseded (2026-07-25): WeChat Pay is not currently supported. RMB top-up now runs through Alipay on the hosted checkout, alongside cards.
Chinese users could add funds to their Router One account using WeChat Pay and Alipay, in addition to international cards. Payments were processed in real time with immediate balance updates. This removed a major friction point for teams operating primarily in China.
Budget Controls and QPS Limits
Each API key can now carry its own maxSpend cap, request rateLimit, and tokenLimitTpm. Give each application, project, or tool a separate key to isolate its exposure. When maxSpend is exhausted, requests on that key stop even if the account wallet still has balance.
January 2026
Platform Launch
Router One is live. The initial release includes the foundational infrastructure that everything else is built on:
Unified LLM API Endpoint. A single OpenAI-compatible endpoint (https://api.router.one/v1) that accepts Chat Completions requests and routes them to the right model. GPT, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, and DeepSeek model families supported at launch (the catalog has since turned over — see the models page), behind one request and response schema.
Claude Code and Codex Support. Router One works as a drop-in API base URL for both Anthropic's Claude Code CLI and OpenAI's Codex CLI. Configure the base URL, provide your Router One API key, and all requests flow through the platform with full tracking and budget enforcement.
API Key Isolation. Create multiple API keys under one account and assign a separate key to each application, project, tool, or environment. Each key has its own spend and rate controls; organization roles and RBAC are not part of this public release.
Observability Foundation. Every request is logged with billing and routing metadata: model used, tokens consumed (input and output), cost incurred, latency measured, status, and API key. This data powers the usage dashboard and per-request traces without retaining prompt or completion bodies.
Prepaid Credit System. Add funds to your account and consume them as you use LLM APIs. You see the wallet balance decrease with usage and can top up when needed; a key-level maxSpend cap limits an individual workload.
What Is Coming Next
We do not pre-announce features before they ship — roadmap items appear in this changelog once they are live. Subscription plans, previously listed here as upcoming, launched on 2026-05-21; see the May 2026 entry above.
Follow this changelog for updates as new releases ship.