WHAT'S IN THE TEAPOT / ABOUT
What is Teapot Router?
Teapot Router is an independent gateway (relay) for Claude Code and GPT. One endpoint routes requests to configured upstream model channels, with prepaid pay-as-you-go billing, per-request cost records, and automatic failover between channels. It is not a model provider itself.
What problem does it solve?
Coding on official subscriptions or direct API access keeps running into five walls:
Monthly fees and access barriers — Official plans bill a full month up front, and payment or regional hurdles get in the way. Teapot Router is prepaid and per-request — no subscription, and your balance never expires.
Costs are a black box — Hard to check where the money goes. Every request here leaves a record — model, tokens, charge, timestamp — and the price table is public, with official reference prices shown for comparison.
Shaky channels, scattered accounts — One account for Claude, another for GPT, and a flapping channel kills your session. Teapot Router puts both lanes behind one endpoint and one key, with automatic failover between channels.
Migration cost — Switching providers usually means rewriting code or changing tools. Here Claude Code takes two environment variables and the OpenAI SDK one base_url — your existing tools and workflow stay as they are.
Shared-account risk in teams — Handing the master key to teammates is risky and impossible to reconcile per person. Organization features issue keys centrally, set per-person quotas, and keep usage auditable.
Why a teapot?
The name tips its hat to HTTP status 418 “I'm a teapot”, the beloved easter egg from a 1998 IETF April Fools' RFC. A teapot doesn't grow tea — it pours it. That is exactly how a model gateway should behave: we don't train models, we pour them, steadily, to whoever asks.
How we operate
The boundaries are written down — Teapot Router is a gateway, not a model provider. Available models and behavior depend on the configured upstream channels — stated on the pricing page and in the FAQ, never hidden in fine print.
Prepaid, no subscription — API usage is billed per request against a prepaid balance. There is no subscription fee, and your balance never expires.
Refunds follow your balance — Top up 100, use 10, and 90 is refundable. Gifted or promotional credit is not refundable, and refund fees are borne by the platform — never deducted from your refund.
Every request is on the record — The workspace keeps a per-request ledger — model, tokens, charge, timestamp — so the bill is never a mystery.
Where to find us
Questions, enterprise evaluation, or procurement — write to us and a human answers.