API Model Optimizer and router (Uses Claude code, Codex, Minimax, Open Router)

API Cost Optimization Kit

You're spending $200-500/month on API credits. You should be optimizing that!

Most developers are routing models wrong. They pay per-token for models their subscription already covers, use Claude Opus for tasks a $0.01 model handles fine, and run one model for everything when a multi-model setup cuts costs by 95% or more.

This kit fixes that in under 10 minutes.

---

What You Get

An Interactive Setup Wizard

One script. Run it, answer 10 questions about your subscriptions and workflow, and it generates optimized configs for Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenClaw, and optionally other local LLM's to then decide how to route your API calls. It detects your existing tools, collects only the API keys you need, and never overwrites your current setup. Run it again anytime. Fully idempotent.

Cost Optimization Guide

The complete playbook for routing every API call to the cheapest provider without sacrificing quality. Includes live pricing data for 50+ models, real cost comparisons across 6 usage scenarios, and the anti-patterns that are silently draining your budget.

4 Multi-Model Orchestration Patterns

Fan-out — Run 5 cheap workers in parallel, then merge results with 1 expensive aggregator. Research tasks drop from $25 to $0.10.

Review chain — A cheap model writes the code, an expensive model reviews it. Test generation drops from $5 to $0.15.

Escalation — Start at the cheapest tier and auto-escalate only when needed. 70% of tasks never leave the $0.01 tier.

Cost-aware routing — A classifier scores every prompt in under 10 milliseconds and sends it to the right model automatically.

Model Comparison Matrix

Opus vs Sonnet vs MiniMax vs Kimi vs DeepSeek vs Gemini, rated A+ through C across 12 task types. Know exactly when cheap models are good enough and when to pay for premium.

Production Guardrails

Token budgets per tier. Quality gates that catch cheap model failures before they ship. A hard list of tasks that should never touch a cheap model, like architecture, security, and database migrations. Circuit breakers that stop infinite retry loops.

A script that pulls in details on 337+ API Model Database

Every model on OpenRouter with context window, input cost, output cost, and which command to use. Auto-refreshable. Run one script to pull the latest models and pricing from the API.

Full Setup Guide

Step-by-step manual for Claude Code, MiniMax, Codex CLI, and OpenRouter. Covers billing strategy, troubleshooting, and quick reference. For when you want to understand every detail behind the wizard.

I wrote this myself because Minimax broke my claude code and it was frustrating to figure out. save yourself the frustration and set it up correctly!

---

Who This Is For

• You use Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenClaw, or Cursor
• You have 2 or more AI subscriptions and aren't sure you're routing models efficiently
• You run agents or background tasks and the API bill keeps climbing
• You want to stop manually picking models and let a router handle it

---

What Changes After Setup

Before: One model for everything. After: A 4-tier system that picks the right model for each task.

Before: $5-10 per sub-agent task. After: $0.01-0.10 per sub-agent task.

Before: Manually choosing which model to use. After: Automatic routing based on prompt complexity.

Before: Paying per-token for models your subscription already covers. After: Subscriptions handle 90% or more of your usage.

Before: No cost guardrails. After: Token budgets, quality gates, and circuit breakers.

Before: Guessing which model is cheapest for the job. After: A decision matrix with real pricing data.

---

The Math

A heavy user running Claude Opus for everything through OpenRouter pays around $450 per month in API costs alone.

The same workload with this kit costs around $50-70 per month. That's subscriptions plus $5-10 in API overflow.

The kit pays for itself in the first hour.