> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pre.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# AI Gateway quickstart

> Send a chat completion through api.pre.dev/v1 with curl or a stock SDK.

Send one chat completion to `deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash` and read the credits it charged.

## Before you start

Copy your key from the dashboard under **Integrations → API Keys** and store it as `PREDEV_API_KEY`. Keys look like `pdk_…`. A free workspace can make 5 credits of gateway calls; after that, calls need a subscription or credits. See [API key](/ai-gateway/api-key) and [pricing](/ai-gateway/pricing).

## Send a request

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="curl">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl --fail-with-body https://api.pre.dev/v1/chat/completions \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $PREDEV_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "model": "deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash",
        "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Say hello in five words." }]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Node.js">
    Install the stock SDK with `npm install openai`, then set `baseURL`:

    ```typescript theme={null}
    import OpenAI from 'openai';

    const client = new OpenAI({
      baseURL: 'https://api.pre.dev/v1',
      apiKey: process.env.PREDEV_API_KEY!,
    });

    const completion = await client.chat.completions.create({
      model: 'deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash',
      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say hello in five words.' }],
    });
    console.log(completion.choices[0].message.content);
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Python">
    Install the stock SDK with `pip install openai`, then set `base_url`:

    ```python theme={null}
    import os
    from openai import OpenAI

    client = OpenAI(
        base_url="https://api.pre.dev/v1",
        api_key=os.environ["PREDEV_API_KEY"],
    )

    completion = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash",
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello in five words."}],
    )
    print(completion.choices[0].message.content)
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Vercel AI SDK">
    Install `ai` and `@ai-sdk/openai`, then create a provider with the gateway URL:

    ```typescript theme={null}
    import { createOpenAI } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
    import { generateText } from 'ai';

    const predev = createOpenAI({
      baseURL: 'https://api.pre.dev/v1',
      apiKey: process.env.PREDEV_API_KEY!,
    });

    const { text } = await generateText({
      model: predev('deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash'),
      prompt: 'Say hello in five words.',
    });
    console.log(text);
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Anthropic SDK">
    The gateway serves the Anthropic Messages shape at `/v1/messages`. The Anthropic SDK appends `/v1/messages` itself, so its base URL is `https://api.pre.dev` **without** `/v1`. Use your pre.dev key as the API key:

    ```typescript theme={null}
    import Anthropic from '@anthropic-ai/sdk';

    const client = new Anthropic({
      baseURL: 'https://api.pre.dev',
      apiKey: process.env.PREDEV_API_KEY!,
    });

    const message = await client.messages.create({
      model: 'anthropic/claude-sonnet-5',
      max_tokens: 256,
      messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say hello in five words.' }],
    });
    console.log(message.content);
    ```

    Model ids stay in catalog form (`anthropic/claude-sonnet-5`), not Anthropic's native names. See [Messages](/ai-gateway/api/messages).
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Read the response

The body is a standard chat completion response. Three headers come from the gateway:

| Header                       | Meaning                                                      |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `x-predev-request-id`        | Gateway request id, `pdr_…`; quote it in support requests    |
| `x-predev-credits-charged`   | Credits charged for this call                                |
| `x-predev-credits-remaining` | Workspace balance after the call; omitted on unlimited plans |

Add `-i` to the curl command to print them. In the SDKs, use the raw-response helpers (`client.chat.completions.with_raw_response` in Python, `.withResponse()` in Node) when you need headers.

## Swap the model

<Warning>
  **Reasoning models spend your `max_tokens` thinking.** The gateway enables reasoning by default on models that support it (Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini and others). With a small `max_tokens` the reply can come back as `content: null` with `finish_reason: "length"` because the whole budget went to reasoning tokens — which are still billed. For chat, summarise or classify features either pass `reasoning: { "enabled": false }` (or `{ "effort": "low" }`) or give `max_tokens` at least 1024.
</Warning>

Change `model` to any id from [`GET /v1/models`](/ai-gateway/api/models), for example `anthropic/claude-sonnet-5`, `google/gemini-3.8-flash`, or `openai/gpt-5.6-luna`. An invalid id returns the provider's error with its original status and message.

Continue with [streaming](/ai-gateway/streaming), [tools and structured output](/ai-gateway/tools-and-structured-output), or [routing and fallbacks](/ai-gateway/routing-and-fallbacks).