Overview

This guide walks you through connecting OpenRouter to Nostr using OpenClaw. You'll learn how to configure authentication, set up the channel, and deploy your AI assistant.

OpenRouter Features

  • Access to 100+ models
  • Unified billing
  • Model comparison
  • Automatic fallbacks

Nostr Capabilities

  • Direct messages
  • Reactions

Step 1: Configure OpenRouter

OpenRouter API key

  1. Create account at openrouter.ai
  2. Generate API key
  3. Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY environment variable

Environment variable: OPENROUTER_API_KEY

Step 2: Configure Nostr

  1. Generate a Nostr key pair
  2. Choose relay servers
  3. Configure nostr in openclaw.json
  4. Start the gateway
  5. Publish your public key

Step 3: Combined Configuration

Add both configurations to your openclaw.json:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"
      }
    }
  },
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "openrouter": {
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "openrouter": {
        "apiKey": "${OPENROUTER_API_KEY}
    }
  },
  "channels": {
    "nostr": {
      "privateKey": "${NOSTR_PRIVATE_KEY}",
      "relays": ["wss://relay.damus.io", "wss://nos.lol"]
    }
  }
}
}

Step 4: Start the Gateway

# Start the gateway
openclaw gateway start

# Check status
openclaw status

# View logs
openclaw logs --follow

Access Control

Nostr supports the following access control policies:

DM Policies

Policy Description
allowlist Only senders in allowFrom list are processed
open All DMs are processed (requires allowFrom: ["*"])

Group Policies

Policy Description
open All groups are processed

Deploy Options

Choose how to deploy your OpenRouter + Nostr setup:

Local Deployment

Run on your personal machine with local-only access

View Guide →

VPS Deployment

Always-on deployment on a Linux VPS

View Guide →

Cloud Deployment

Managed container deployment on Fly.io or similar

View Guide →

Docker Deployment

Containerized deployment with Docker

View Guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up OpenRouter with Nostr?
Configure OpenRouter as your AI provider and enable Nostr as a channel in openclaw.json. The gateway routes Nostr messages to OpenRouter for processing automatically.
Is OpenRouter a good choice for Nostr bots?
OpenRouter works great with Nostr. Single API for multiple providers and Easy model switching make it well-suited for Decentralized AI and Public bot.