Models & Routing

The model field in Tera Router is more expressive than a typical API. The router reads it in a fixed priority order:

provider/model is only valid if provider is the slug of a built-in catalog entry or an active custom provider.

Alias pool

An alias maps one short name to multiple provider/model targets tried in order. Manage it via the Chains → alias page or the API:

curl -X PUT http://localhost:8080/v1/models/alias \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <dashboard-jwt>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "fast",
    "context_window": 128000,
    "active": true,
    "targets": [
      { "provider": "groq", "model": "llama-3.3-70b", "active": true },
      { "provider": "openai", "model": "gpt-4o-mini", "active": true }
    ]
  }'

After that, model: "fast" on the gateway means "try Groq first, OpenAI if it fails".

Chains

Chains define richer routing — a per-chain strategy, sequential steps, and a closing fallback:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/chains \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <dashboard-jwt>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "heavy-coding",
    "strategy": "priority",
    "fallback_provider": "openrouter",
    "fallback_model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4",
    "enabled": true,
    "steps": [
      { "provider": "claude", "model": "claude-sonnet-4" },
      { "provider": "glm", "model": "glm-4.6" }
    ]
  }'

Available strategies:

• priority — follow the step order; move to the next step when the active one fails.
• round-robin — rotate across steps to share the load.
• load-balanced — spread requests evenly.

Call it with model: "chain:heavy-coding" (or plain heavy-coding, since chain names are looked up first in form 4).

Reasoning suffix

Append a reasoning level in parentheses at the end of the model name — the router translates it into the target provider's reasoning parameter:

{ "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini(high)" }
{ "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4(8192)" }

Write a number directly (e.g. (8192)) for an explicit budget.

Combining with key allowlists

Allowlist patterns on keys/plans support a trailing * wildcard and match every name form — plain models, provider/model, alias names, and chain:<name>. For example anthropic/* allows all Anthropic models; chain:* allows all chains.