Cursor

What is Cursor?

Cursor is an AI-powered code editor built on VS Code. It features an agent mode for autonomous coding, tab completions, inline edits, a CLI, and cloud agents. Cursor ships its own in-house models (like Composer) alongside frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and more.

By routing Cursor through OpenRouter, you get access to hundreds of models through a single API key, automatic provider failover, and centralized usage tracking.

Quick Start

Cursor supports OpenRouter through its Override OpenAI Base URL feature. This routes requests from Cursor’s OpenAI provider override through a dedicated OpenRouter endpoint that handles Cursor’s request format natively.

Step 1: Get Your OpenRouter API Key

1. Sign up or log in at OpenRouter
2. Navigate to your API Keys page
3. Create a new API key
4. Copy your key (starts with sk-or-...)

Step 2: Configure Cursor

1. Open Cursor Settings (gear icon or Cmd/Ctrl + ,)
2. Navigate to Models, then expand the API Keys section
3. Toggle on OpenAI API Key, then:

   • Paste your OpenRouter API key into the OpenAI API Key field

   • Toggle on Override OpenAI Base URL and set it to:

     https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/cursor

Step 3: Add Models

After connecting, add the models you want to use. In the Models section, click + Add model and enter an OpenRouter model ID:

• ~anthropic/claude-opus-latest
• ~openai/gpt-latest
• ~moonshotai/kimi-latest
• deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash

Step 4: Select a Model

Open the model picker in the chat or agent panel and select one of the models you added. Your requests will now route through OpenRouter.

How It Works

OpenRouter exposes a dedicated Cursor endpoint at /api/v1/cursor that normalizes Cursor’s request format into the standard OpenAI Chat Completions format before routing.

Why Use OpenRouter with Cursor?

Access to Hundreds of Models

Cursor’s built-in BYOK only supports a handful of providers. With OpenRouter, you get access to hundreds of models across dozens of providers, all through the single OpenAI provider override.

Provider Failover

If one provider is unavailable or rate-limited, OpenRouter automatically routes to another, keeping your coding sessions uninterrupted.

Organizational Controls

For teams, OpenRouter provides centralized budget management. Set spending limits, allocate credits, and monitor usage across developers using Cursor from your OpenRouter Activity Dashboard.

Usage Visibility

Track which models your team uses, monitor costs in real-time, and understand usage patterns from a single dashboard, regardless of the underlying provider. See the Activity page for a breakdown by model, user, and cost.

You can also control which upstream providers handle your requests. See the Provider Routing docs for details on routing suffixes like :nitro and :floor.

Limitations

• Tab completions are not affected by BYOK settings; they always use Cursor’s built-in models.
• Auto and Composer 2 modes may not be routed through your API key. Check Cursor’s docs for current behavior.
• Only models accessible via OpenRouter’s OpenAI-compatible endpoint will work. Most chat and reasoning models are supported.

Troubleshooting

• “Invalid API key”: Make sure you’re using your OpenRouter API key (starts with sk-or-...), not an OpenAI key.
• Model not found: Ensure the model ID exactly matches the format on openrouter.ai/models. Router model aliases need the ~ prefix (e.g., ~anthropic/claude-sonnet-latest, not anthropic/claude-sonnet-latest).
• Base URL: The override URL must be https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/cursor. If you’re using https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 (without /cursor), tool calls and some request formats may not work correctly.
• Tool errors: If you see unexpected tool call failures, double-check whether you’re pointed at the /cursor endpoint. The dedicated endpoint handles Cursor’s flat tool format; the generic /v1 endpoint does not.

Resources

• Cursor Documentation
• Cursor BYOK Help
• OpenRouter Models
• Provider Routing