Using your credits

Your Tori credits are real AI spending power. They work in two ways — pick whichever fits the moment.

1. Chat — zero setup

On your dashboard, Try your credits lets you ask anything immediately. A typical message costs under a cent. Behind the scenes, $1 at a time moves from your balance into a chat fund and is spent as you go — you’ll see it labeled in your history.

2. An AI key — for your own tools

What an AI key is: a private code — technically an API key — funded by your credits. You paste it into an AI tool once, and from then on your credits pay for what that tool uses. The amount you choose when creating it is the most it can ever spend.

Tap Get an AI key, choose an amount (that amount is the key’s spending cap), and copy the key — it’s shown once. It works in any tool that accepts OpenAI-style keys. Setup is the same everywhere, two fields:

API key: paste yours
Base URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 — then pick any major model, e.g. anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

Where it works: Cursor · VS Code (via free extensions like Cline or Continue) · n8n · Aider · TypingMind · Chatbox · LangChain · the OpenAI SDKs · and hundreds more. Your one key reaches 400+ models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, and the rest).

Quick test from a terminal:

curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR-KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hello"}]}'

What you need (and don’t)

For the chat: nothing. Claim with your email and it works instantly — no AI subscriptions, no other accounts.

For an AI key: you’ll use your own tools (Cursor, VS Code, n8n — their normal apps and logins), but the key replaces any AI-provider account: no OpenAI or Anthropic subscription needed. Your credits carry the AI spend.

For the card link: only worth it if you already pay for AI (subscriptions or API bills) — that’s what the 5% back is for.

Good to know

Key usage on your dashboard updates every ~30 minutes — spend shows at the provider instantly, here with a lag. A key answers with a 401 once its cap is fully spent; your remaining balance can mint another anytime. Keys never expose your wallet — the cap is the most a key can ever spend.

Building an app or sending rewards to your own customers? That’s the Partner API.