# API access

Members can use the co-op's models programmatically through an OpenAI-compatible
API. It's the same infrastructure that powers the chat — any OpenAI-compatible
client works.

## Quick facts

- **Base URL:** `https://gateway.inference.coop/v1`
- **Auth:** a bearer API key (create one in the [Member Dashboard](https://dashboard.inference.coop))
- **Format:** OpenAI chat completions — `POST https://gateway.inference.coop/v1/chat/completions`
- **Models:**
  - `deepseek-v4-1-flash` — default, best for agentic tasks (1M context, tool calling)
  - `gpt-oss-120b` — lightweight fallback
  - `glm-5-3-flash` — fast, efficient MoE model

API usage draws from the **same monthly allowance as chat** — there's no separate
quota.

## Get a key

Log in to the [Member Dashboard](https://dashboard.inference.coop) and create an
API key. The key is an `sk-…` string you pass as a bearer token.

## Plain `curl`

```bash
curl https://gateway.inference.coop/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-your-key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "deepseek-v4-1-flash", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'
```

## OpenAI SDK (Python, Node, etc.)

Point the SDK at our base URL and use your member key:

```python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://gateway.inference.coop/v1",
    api_key="sk-your-key",
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek-v4-1-flash",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
)
```

Any OpenAI-compatible client works the same way: set the base URL to
`https://gateway.inference.coop/v1` and the API key to your member key.

## Coding agents and other OpenAI-compatible clients

Any tool that speaks the OpenAI API works. Where a tool asks for provider or
endpoint configuration:

- **Base URL / endpoint:** `https://gateway.inference.coop/v1`
- **API type / protocol:** "OpenAI compatible" (or `openai-completions` where a
  protocol string must be named) — not "Ollama", "Anthropic", or "Responses"
- **API key:** your member key (the `sk-…` string)
- **Model:** one of `deepseek-v4-1-flash`, `gpt-oss-120b`, `glm-5-3-flash`

A typical provider entry looks like:

```json
{
  "providers": {
    "inference-coop": {
      "baseUrl": "https://gateway.inference.coop/v1",
      "api": "openai-completions",
      "apiKey": "sk-your-key",
      "models": [
        { "id": "deepseek-v4-1-flash" },
        { "id": "gpt-oss-120b" },
        { "id": "glm-5-3-flash" }
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

If a tool's own docs show a local-server example (e.g.
`baseUrl: http://localhost:11434/v1` with `api: "openai-completions"`),
substitute our base URL and your member key for `apiKey` — the protocol value
stays the same. Some tools append `/chat/completions` to the base URL themselves;
if your base URL already ends in `/v1`, that's correct and you should not add
`/chat/completions`.