# OmniRoute > OmniRoute is a free, open-source AI Gateway that acts as a universal API proxy for multi-provider LLMs. It provides smart routing, automatic fallback, load balancing, and format translation across 36+ AI providers — all through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint. ## Overview OmniRoute solves the problem of managing multiple AI provider subscriptions, quotas, and rate limits. It sits between your AI-powered tools (IDE agents, CLI tools) and AI providers, routing requests intelligently through a 4-tier fallback system: Subscription → API Key → Cheap → Free. **Key value:** One endpoint (`http://localhost:20128/v1`), unlimited models, zero downtime, minimal cost. ## Tech Stack - **Runtime:** Node.js >= 18 - **Framework:** Next.js 16 (App Router) with TypeScript - **Database:** SQLite via better-sqlite3 (local, zero-config) - **State management:** Zustand (client), lowdb (server JSON persistence) - **UI:** React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Recharts for analytics - **Auth:** OAuth 2.0 (PKCE) for providers, bcrypt for local user auth - **Background jobs:** Custom token health check scheduler - **Streaming:** Server-Sent Events (SSE) for real-time proxy responses - **Proxy engine:** Custom pipeline with format translation, circuit breaker, rate limiting - **Package:** Published on npm (`omniroute`) and Docker Hub (`diegosouzapw/omniroute`) ## Project Structure ``` / ├── src/ # Main application source │ ├── app/ # Next.js App Router pages and API routes │ │ ├── (dashboard)/ # Dashboard UI pages (providers, combos, analytics, logs, etc.) │ │ ├── api/ # REST API endpoints │ │ │ ├── v1/ # OpenAI-compatible API (chat, models, embeddings, images, audio) │ │ │ ├── oauth/ # OAuth flows per provider (authorize, exchange, callback) │ │ │ ├── providers/ # Provider CRUD and batch testing │ │ │ ├── models/ # Dashboard model listing and aliases │ │ │ ├── combos/ # Combo CRUD (multi-model fallback chains) │ │ │ └── ... # Other endpoints (usage, logs, health, settings, etc.) │ │ └── login/ # Login page │ ├── domain/ # Domain types and business logic interfaces │ ├── lib/ # Core libraries │ │ ├── db/ # SQLite database layer (providers, combos, prompts, logs) │ │ ├── oauth/ # OAuth providers, services, and utilities │ │ │ ├── providers/ # Provider-specific OAuth configs (GitHub, Google, Claude, etc.) │ │ │ ├── services/ # Provider-specific token exchange logic │ │ │ └── utils/ # PKCE, callback server, token helpers │ │ ├── cloudSync.ts # Cloud sync via Cloudflare Workers │ │ ├── tokenHealthCheck.ts # Background OAuth token refresh scheduler │ │ └── localDb.ts # Unified database access layer │ ├── shared/ # Shared utilities, components, and constants │ │ ├── components/ # Reusable UI components (Card, Badge, Button, Modal, etc.) │ │ ├── constants/ # Provider definitions, model lists, pricing │ │ └── utils/ # Helpers (auth, CORS, error codes, machine ID) │ ├── sse/ # SSE proxy pipeline │ │ ├── services/ # Auth resolution, format translation, response handling │ │ └── middleware/ # Rate limiting, circuit breaker, caching, idempotency │ ├── store/ # Zustand client-side stores │ ├── types/ # TypeScript type definitions │ ├── proxy.ts # Main proxy request handler │ └── server-init.ts # Server initialization (DB, health checks) ├── open-sse/ # Standalone SSE server (npm workspace) │ ├── config/ # Model registries (embedding, image, audio, rerank, moderation) │ ├── handlers/ # Request handlers per API type │ └── translators/ # Format translators (OpenAI ↔ Claude ↔ Gemini ↔ Responses) ├── tests/ # Test suites │ ├── unit/ # Unit tests (32+ test files) │ └── integration/ # Integration tests ├── docs/ # Documentation and screenshots ├── bin/ # CLI entry points (omniroute, reset-password) └── .env.example # Environment variable template ``` ## Key Architectural Decisions 1. **OpenAI-compatible API surface:** All incoming requests follow the OpenAI API format (`/v1/chat/completions`, `/v1/models`, etc.). This makes OmniRoute a drop-in replacement for any tool that supports custom OpenAI endpoints. 2. **Provider abstraction via format translators:** Each AI provider (Claude, Gemini, etc.) has a translator in `open-sse/translators/` that converts between the OpenAI format and the provider's native format. This happens transparently. 3. **Connection-based provider model:** Providers are stored as "connections" in SQLite. Each connection has an `id`, `provider`, `authType` (oauth/apikey/free), `isActive` flag, and credentials. Multiple connections per provider are supported for multi-account rotation. 4. **Combo system for fallback:** Users create "combos" — ordered lists of `provider/model` pairs. The proxy tries each in order until one succeeds. Supports 6 strategies: fill-first, round-robin, power-of-two-choices, random, least-used, cost-optimized. 5. **SSE proxy pipeline (`src/sse/`):** The proxy pipeline is middleware-based: request → auth resolution → rate limiting → circuit breaker → format translation → upstream call → response translation → SSE streaming back to client. 6. **SQLite for persistence:** All state (providers, combos, logs, settings) is stored in a single SQLite database file at `data/omniroute.db`. This keeps the app self-contained and zero-config. 7. **OAuth with PKCE:** OAuth flows use PKCE for security. A local callback server (`src/lib/oauth/utils/server.ts`) handles the redirect. Token refresh is handled by a background job (`tokenHealthCheck.ts`). ## Main Flows ### Proxy Request Flow 1. Client sends OpenAI-format request to `/v1/chat/completions` 2. API key validation (`src/shared/utils/apiAuth.ts`) 3. Model resolution: direct model or combo lookup 4. For combos: iterate through models in fallback order 5. Auth resolution: get credentials for the target provider 6. Format translation: OpenAI → provider native format 7. Upstream request with circuit breaker and rate limiting 8. Response translation: provider → OpenAI format 9. SSE streaming back to client ### OAuth Flow 1. Dashboard initiates `/api/oauth/[provider]/authorize` 2. User completes OAuth login in browser 3. Callback hits `/api/oauth/[provider]/exchange` 4. Tokens stored as a provider connection in SQLite 5. Background job refreshes tokens before expiry ### Model Listing - `/api/models` — Dashboard endpoint, lists all defined models with aliases - `/v1/models` — OpenAI-compatible endpoint, lists only models from active providers ## Important Notes for LLMs 1. **Two model endpoints exist:** `/api/models` (dashboard, all models) and `/v1/models` (OpenAI-compatible, active only). Don't confuse them. 2. **Provider IDs vs aliases:** Providers have both an ID (`claude`, `github`) and a short alias (`cc`, `gh`). Models are referenced as `alias/model-name` (e.g., `cc/claude-opus-4-6`). 3. **The `open-sse/` directory is a separate npm workspace** with its own config, handlers, and translators. It handles the actual SSE streaming and format translation. 4. **Environment variables:** All configuration is in `.env` (from `.env.example`). Key vars: `PORT`, `NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL`, `API_KEY`, `ADMIN_PASSWORD`. 5. **Database migrations:** SQLite schema is managed inline in `src/lib/db/core.ts` and `src/lib/db/providers.ts`. No migration framework — schema changes are applied on startup. 6. **Tests use Node.js built-in test runner:** Run `npm test` or `node --test tests/unit/*.test.mjs`. Playwright is used for E2E tests. 7. **The proxy pipeline is in `src/sse/`**, not in `src/app/api/v1/`. The API routes in `src/app/api/v1/` delegate to the SSE server running on a separate Express instance. ## Links - Repository: https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute - Website: https://omniroute.online - npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/omniroute - Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/diegosouzapw/omniroute - Documentation: See `/docs/` directory