Get a free NVIDIA API key and route it through one URL

NVIDIA's build.nvidia.com gives every developer a free API key with a pool of inference credits and a generous per-minute rate limit — no credit card. That key reaches NVIDIA-hosted models like the Nemotron family through an OpenAI-compatible API.

Instead of wiring that key into each tool by hand, you attach it once to AnyRouter as a BYOK key. From then on you call any NVIDIA-served model with a single AnyRouter key, through one endpoint, with logs, analytics, and failover on top. BYOK is $0 markup — you pay nothing beyond what NVIDIA's free tier already covers. Total setup: about five minutes.

Sign in at build.nvidia.com — joining the NVIDIA Developer Program is free and needs no credit card. Open Settings → API Keys (or click Get API Key on any model in the catalog) and click Generate API Key.

NVIDIA mints a personal key prefixed nvapi- that works across the whole model catalog. The full key is shown only once, so copy it immediately. At the time of writing the free tier ships with 1,000 inference credits (higher on request) and a 40 requests-per-minute limit — check the dashboard for the current numbers, as NVIDIA adjusts them.

In the dashboard, open BYOK & Key Balancing at /byok, choose NVIDIA as the provider, paste your nvapi- key, and save. Keys are encrypted at rest and write-only in the UI — after saving you only ever see a masked identifier, never the raw key again.

Mint an AnyRouter key at /keys (it starts with sk-ar-). That's the only key your code holds — AnyRouter maps the request onto your NVIDIA token behind the scenes, so your app never touches the nvapi- key directly. Point any OpenAI-compatible client at https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1 and pick a NVIDIA-hosted model:

curl https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ANYROUTER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "model": "nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b",
  "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Say hi in one line." }]
}'

Because it's OpenAI-compatible, the official OpenAI SDK works unchanged — just swap the base URL and key:

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1",
    api_key="sk-ar-...",  # your AnyRouter key
)

resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hi in one line."}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

Anything that reads a base URL from the environment picks this up with one line. AnyRouter accepts both the OpenAI and Anthropic variable names, so the same endpoint drives Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, or your own agent loop:

export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-ar-..."

# Anthropic-style clients (e.g. Claude Code) use the same gateway:
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://anyrouter.dev/api/v1"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ar-..."

No code changes — the tool talks to AnyRouter, AnyRouter talks to NVIDIA on your free key.

Your NVIDIA quota is mostly idle. Flip the Donate to pool toggle on the key and every request the shared pool routes through it adds up to 8% of that request's notional cost to a pending balance you can claim as credits (5% on Go, 8% on Pro/Max) — and donating one working key unlocks the Go plan for free, for as long as it stays active. You keep first call on your own key; the pool only ever borrows spare capacity, and you can opt out instantly.