Hanish's Garden

🌿 Self-hosting 9router — one endpoint for every LLM provider

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tagshomelab

3 min read

9router is a self-hosted LLM gateway. It exposes a single OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible endpoint and routes your requests to 40+ backend providers — with automatic fallback when one is rate-limited or down, and token compression to stretch your quota. You point your coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Copilot, Codex…) at one URL and switch providers/models from a dashboard instead of reconfiguring each tool.

This holds the keys to your AI accounts

9router stores your provider API keys and OAuth tokens so it can route on your behalf. Treat it like a secret store: keep it local (bound to localhost or your tailnet), and if you ever expose it, put it behind forward-auth and set REQUIRE_API_KEY=true. Also: routing through providers’ free tiers can brush against their terms of service — worth a glance before you lean on it.

Run it — docker-compose.yml

The official compose runs 9router plus a headroom sidecar (the token-compression service):

services:
  9router:
    image: decolua/9router:latest
    container_name: 9router
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "20128:20128"
    volumes:
      - 9router-data:/app/data
    env_file:
      - .env
    environment:
      DATA_DIR: /app/data
      PORT: "20128"
      HOSTNAME: "0.0.0.0"
      NODE_ENV: production
      HEADROOM_URL: http://headroom:8787
    depends_on:
      - headroom
 
  headroom:
    image: ghcr.io/chopratejas/headroom:latest
    container_name: headroom
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "8787:8787"
 
volumes:
  9router-data:
    name: 9router-data

Minimal .env (change the two secrets — the defaults are weak):

JWT_SECRET=change-me-to-a-long-random-secret   # openssl rand -hex 32
INITIAL_PASSWORD=change-me                      # first dashboard login
DATA_DIR=/app/data
PORT=20128
NODE_ENV=production
REQUIRE_API_KEY=true                            # require a key on the proxy endpoint

docker compose up -d, then open the dashboard at http://localhost:20128 and log in with INITIAL_PASSWORD.

The different ways to connect a provider

This is the point of 9router — it supports several auth patterns, so “any LLM provider” really means any of these. All are done in Dashboard → Providers:

MethodProviders it fitsHow
API keyOpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Groq, GLM, MiniMax, Kimi, …Add provider → paste the key. The classic path — any provider that issues an API key.
OAuth loginClaude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, AntigravityConnect → sign in; 9router stores and auto-refreshes the token (uses your existing subscription).
No-auth passthroughOpenCode FreeConnect → it auto-fetches available models, no credentials.
GCP service accountVertex AI (Gemini)Upload the service-account JSON; good for the $300 free-trial credits.
Free OAuthKiro AISign in via AWS Builder ID / Google / GitHub.

Add as many as you like — 9router will fall back across them in the order you set, so a rate-limit on one provider transparently spills to the next.

Point your tools at it

Every tool uses 9router’s OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Grab an API key from the dashboard, then:

  • Base URL: http://localhost:20128/v1
  • API key: (from dashboard)
  • Model: {provider}/{model} — e.g. cc/claude-opus-4-7, or a saved combo

Claude Code (~/.claude/config.json):

{
  "anthropic_api_base": "http://localhost:20128/v1",
  "anthropic_api_key": "your-9router-key"
}

Cursor / Cline / Continue — pick OpenAI-Compatible, set the base URL + key above, and the {provider}/{model} model string.

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