/netlify-ai-gateway

name: netlify-ai-gateway
description: Use Netlify AI Gateway to call OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, TypeSafe (Jev), or OpenRouter-hosted models (xAI/DeepSeek/Meta/Mistral/Qwen) from Netlify Functions or Edge Functions without managing provider accounts or API keys. Reach for this when adding an AI feature to a Netlify app — a chatbot, text summarizer, image generator, joke/content generator, form-submission routing or analysis, or any LLM call — or when wiring the OpenAI/Anthropic/Gemini/TypeSafe/OpenRouter SDK into a Netlify Function, choosing which env vars to use, streaming long generations, or debugging why gateway calls fail at build time or return 401.

Netlify AI Gateway

Call AI models from Netlify compute using the provider's official SDK. The gateway injects provider credentials automatically — instantiate the SDK with no args and it works.

**Use the provider SDK with injected env credentials.** Do not hand-roll a raw `fetch()` against the gateway URL, and do not wire calls to `NETLIFY_AI_GATEWAY_KEY` / `NETLIFY_AI_GATEWAY_URL` as your default path — those are for third-party/unsupported libraries only (see below).

Footguns (read first)

• **Not browser-callable.** Gateway calls belong in Functions or Edge Functions — never in client-side code. The browser has no injected credentials.
• **Runtime-only credentials.** Never call the gateway from build scripts, prerender/SSG, or build plugins — those get no credentials and fail. Do AI work at request time; cache to Netlify Blobs if output must look precomputed.
• **60-second sync timeout.** A gateway call in a synchronous function is bound by the 60s function timeout. Stream long generations (SDK streaming + `ReadableStream`), or use a background function that persists output for the client to fetch. Never leave a slow generation unstreamed.
• **Requires one production deploy.** The gateway does not activate until a project has at least one production deploy. Even for local dev, run `netlify deploy --prod` once first.
• **Don't hardcode model lists.** Available models change. Check the live providers endpoint (`https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/ai-gateway/providers/detailed`) rather than baking in a static list.
• **OpenRouter SDK needs 1.2.43+.** Earlier versions ignore `OPENROUTER_BASE_URL`, call openrouter.ai directly, and fail with `401 Missing Authentication header`.

Where code goes

Write normal Function/handler code — there is no AI-specific file type. A function at `netlify/functions/joke.js` exporting `config = { path: "/api/joke" }` is served at `/api/joke` under both `netlify dev` and production.

Provider SDKs (instantiate with no args)

The gateway injects each provider's own env vars, so the official SDK works with zero config.

Anthropic Claude:

import Anthropic from '@anthropic-ai/sdk';
const anthropic = new Anthropic(); // uses ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL

const message = await anthropic.messages.create({
  model: 'claude-sonnet-5-5',
  max_tokens: 1024,
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello!' }]
});

OpenAI:

import OpenAI from 'openai';
const openai = new OpenAI(); // uses OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENAI_BASE_URL

const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'gpt-6.1-sol',
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello!' }]
});

Google Gemini:

import { GoogleGenAI } from '@google/genai';
const genAI = new GoogleGenAI({}); // uses GEMINI_API_KEY, GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_URL

const result = await genAI.models.generateContent({
  model: 'gemini-3.8-flash',
  contents: 'Hello!'
});

TypeSafe (Jev) — structured decisions (e.g. routing/classifying form submissions):

import type { Config, Context } from '@netlify/functions';
import { choice, TypeSafeClient } from '@typesafe-ai/sdk';

export default async (req: Request, context: Context) => {
  const body = await req.json().catch(() => undefined);
  if (body === undefined)
    return Response.json({ error: 'Request body must be valid JSON.' }, { status: 400 });

  const client = new TypeSafeClient(); // uses TYPESAFE_API_KEY, TYPESAFE_BASE_URL
  const { answers } = await client.systemOne({
    state: body,
    questions: {
      team: choice('Route this contact form submission', {
        sales: null,
        support: null,
        spam: null,
      }),
    },
  });

  return Response.json({ team: answers.team.choice, requestId: context.requestId });
};

export const config: Config = { path: '/api/route', method: 'POST' };

`systemOne` defaults to the `jev-latest` model. Each question is a `choice(prompt, options)` mapping named options to `null`; the result is at `answers.<question>.choice`. POST a JSON body (e.g. `{"message":"Can someone help us upgrade to 200 seats?"}`) with `Content-Type: application/json`.

OpenRouter (SDK 1.2.43+ required — see footguns):

import { OpenRouter } from '@openrouter/sdk';
const openRouter = new OpenRouter(); // uses OPENROUTER_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_BASE_URL

const result = await openRouter.chat.send({
  chatRequest: {
    model: 'x-ai/grok-4.5',
    messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello!' }]
  }
});

Models available through OpenRouter can be called with either the OpenRouter SDK or the OpenAI SDK using OpenRouter model-ID notation (e.g. `deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731`) — just pass the ID as the `model`.

Model IDs above (`gpt-6.1-sol`, `claude-sonnet-5-5`, `gemini-3.8-flash`, `x-ai/grok-4.5`, etc.) are examples that change — check the live providers endpoint.

Env vars — which to use

**Default:** supported provider SDKs consume their injected provider-specific vars automatically. Instantiate the SDK with no args as shown above (`new OpenAI()`, `new Anthropic()`, `new GoogleGenAI({})`, `new TypeSafeClient()`, `new OpenRouter()`) and the corresponding pair is read for you:

• OpenAI: `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_BASE_URL`
• Anthropic: `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`
• Google Gemini: `GEMINI_API_KEY`, `GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_UR