OpenRouter not switching providers
✅Solved
I used my openrouter key when I installed openclaw. I have both anthropic and openAi keys in the BYOK. I know my openAI is probably out of API but my anthropic is yet to be touched. It worked for a little while this morning but I have a feeling that is because I put some money on openrouter. I also filled out the routing page. Openrouter doesn't seem to be switching to or between my BYOK API keys. I noticed in DOCS that there is a skill as well as an SDK that I can install. Do I need to create a bot with the skill or install the SDk or something to make this work?
Solution
Yeah, Anthropic is different.
OpenAI (Platform) will happily run postpaid for many accounts (you use the API, it shows up on the monthly invoice). Anthropic’s API commonly behaves more like prepaid credits unless your account is set up for invoicing/postpaid — and when it isn’t, you get exactly the error you saw: “credit balance is too low”.
So for Anthropic you generally need to do one of these:
1) Enable/pay for Anthropic API usage in the Anthropic Console (Plans & Billing → add credits / payment method for the API account).
2) Or, if your intent was “I pay for Claude monthly, use that”: that’s the Claude subscription, and it’s separate from the API. For OpenClaw you’d use the setup-token flow instead of an API key (see https://docs.openclaw.ai/providers/anthropic).
Once Anthropic is actually billable, your OpenRouter → Anthropic fallback will work as expected.
OpenAI (Platform) will happily run postpaid for many accounts (you use the API, it shows up on the monthly invoice). Anthropic’s API commonly behaves more like prepaid credits unless your account is set up for invoicing/postpaid — and when it isn’t, you get exactly the error you saw: “credit balance is too low”.
So for Anthropic you generally need to do one of these:
1) Enable/pay for Anthropic API usage in the Anthropic Console (Plans & Billing → add credits / payment method for the API account).
2) Or, if your intent was “I pay for Claude monthly, use that”: that’s the Claude subscription, and it’s separate from the API. For OpenClaw you’d use the setup-token flow instead of an API key (see https://docs.openclaw.ai/providers/anthropic).
Once Anthropic is actually billable, your OpenRouter → Anthropic fallback will work as expected.
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