Create a guardrail

curl --request POST \
  --url https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "allowed_models": null,
  "allowed_providers": [
    "openai",
    "anthropic",
    "deepseek"
  ],
  "description": "A guardrail for limiting API usage",
  "enforce_zdr_anthropic": true,
  "enforce_zdr_google": false,
  "enforce_zdr_openai": true,
  "enforce_zdr_other": false,
  "enforce_zdr_xai": false,
  "ignored_models": null,
  "ignored_providers": null,
  "limit_usd": 50,
  "name": "My New Guardrail",
  "reset_interval": "monthly"
}
'

import requests

url = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails"

payload = {
    "allowed_models": None,
    "allowed_providers": ["openai", "anthropic", "deepseek"],
    "description": "A guardrail for limiting API usage",
    "enforce_zdr_anthropic": True,
    "enforce_zdr_google": False,
    "enforce_zdr_openai": True,
    "enforce_zdr_other": False,
    "enforce_zdr_xai": False,
    "ignored_models": None,
    "ignored_providers": None,
    "limit_usd": 50,
    "name": "My New Guardrail",
    "reset_interval": "monthly"
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    allowed_models: null,
    allowed_providers: ['openai', 'anthropic', 'deepseek'],
    description: 'A guardrail for limiting API usage',
    enforce_zdr_anthropic: true,
    enforce_zdr_google: false,
    enforce_zdr_openai: true,
    enforce_zdr_other: false,
    enforce_zdr_xai: false,
    ignored_models: null,
    ignored_providers: null,
    limit_usd: 50,
    name: 'My New Guardrail',
    reset_interval: 'monthly'
  })
};

fetch('https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'allowed_models' => null,
    'allowed_providers' => [
        'openai',
        'anthropic',
        'deepseek'
    ],
    'description' => 'A guardrail for limiting API usage',
    'enforce_zdr_anthropic' => true,
    'enforce_zdr_google' => false,
    'enforce_zdr_openai' => true,
    'enforce_zdr_other' => false,
    'enforce_zdr_xai' => false,
    'ignored_models' => null,
    'ignored_providers' => null,
    'limit_usd' => 50,
    'name' => 'My New Guardrail',
    'reset_interval' => 'monthly'
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"allowed_models\": null,\n  \"allowed_providers\": [\n    \"openai\",\n    \"anthropic\",\n    \"deepseek\"\n  ],\n  \"description\": \"A guardrail for limiting API usage\",\n  \"enforce_zdr_anthropic\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_google\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_openai\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_other\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_xai\": false,\n  \"ignored_models\": null,\n  \"ignored_providers\": null,\n  \"limit_usd\": 50,\n  \"name\": \"My New Guardrail\",\n  \"reset_interval\": \"monthly\"\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"allowed_models\": null,\n  \"allowed_providers\": [\n    \"openai\",\n    \"anthropic\",\n    \"deepseek\"\n  ],\n  \"description\": \"A guardrail for limiting API usage\",\n  \"enforce_zdr_anthropic\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_google\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_openai\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_other\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_xai\": false,\n  \"ignored_models\": null,\n  \"ignored_providers\": null,\n  \"limit_usd\": 50,\n  \"name\": \"My New Guardrail\",\n  \"reset_interval\": \"monthly\"\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"allowed_models\": null,\n  \"allowed_providers\": [\n    \"openai\",\n    \"anthropic\",\n    \"deepseek\"\n  ],\n  \"description\": \"A guardrail for limiting API usage\",\n  \"enforce_zdr_anthropic\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_google\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_openai\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_other\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_xai\": false,\n  \"ignored_models\": null,\n  \"ignored_providers\": null,\n  \"limit_usd\": 50,\n  \"name\": \"My New Guardrail\",\n  \"reset_interval\": \"monthly\"\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "data": {
    "allowed_models": null,
    "allowed_providers": [
      "openai",
      "anthropic",
      "google"
    ],
    "created_at": "2025-08-24T10:30:00Z",
    "description": "A guardrail for limiting API usage",
    "enforce_zdr": null,
    "enforce_zdr_anthropic": true,
    "enforce_zdr_google": false,
    "enforce_zdr_openai": true,
    "enforce_zdr_other": false,
    "enforce_zdr_xai": false,
    "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "ignored_models": null,
    "ignored_providers": null,
    "include_byok_in_budgets": false,
    "limit_usd": 50,
    "name": "My New Guardrail",
    "reset_interval": "monthly",
    "updated_at": null,
    "workspace_id": "0df9e665-d932-5740-b2c7-b52af166bc11"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 400,
    "message": "Invalid request parameters"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Missing Authentication header"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 403,
    "message": "Only management keys can perform this operation"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 500,
    "message": "Internal Server Error"
  }
}

POST

guardrails

Create a guardrail

curl --request POST \
  --url https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "allowed_models": null,
  "allowed_providers": [
    "openai",
    "anthropic",
    "deepseek"
  ],
  "description": "A guardrail for limiting API usage",
  "enforce_zdr_anthropic": true,
  "enforce_zdr_google": false,
  "enforce_zdr_openai": true,
  "enforce_zdr_other": false,
  "enforce_zdr_xai": false,
  "ignored_models": null,
  "ignored_providers": null,
  "limit_usd": 50,
  "name": "My New Guardrail",
  "reset_interval": "monthly"
}
'

import requests

url = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails"

payload = {
    "allowed_models": None,
    "allowed_providers": ["openai", "anthropic", "deepseek"],
    "description": "A guardrail for limiting API usage",
    "enforce_zdr_anthropic": True,
    "enforce_zdr_google": False,
    "enforce_zdr_openai": True,
    "enforce_zdr_other": False,
    "enforce_zdr_xai": False,
    "ignored_models": None,
    "ignored_providers": None,
    "limit_usd": 50,
    "name": "My New Guardrail",
    "reset_interval": "monthly"
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    allowed_models: null,
    allowed_providers: ['openai', 'anthropic', 'deepseek'],
    description: 'A guardrail for limiting API usage',
    enforce_zdr_anthropic: true,
    enforce_zdr_google: false,
    enforce_zdr_openai: true,
    enforce_zdr_other: false,
    enforce_zdr_xai: false,
    ignored_models: null,
    ignored_providers: null,
    limit_usd: 50,
    name: 'My New Guardrail',
    reset_interval: 'monthly'
  })
};

fetch('https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'allowed_models' => null,
    'allowed_providers' => [
        'openai',
        'anthropic',
        'deepseek'
    ],
    'description' => 'A guardrail for limiting API usage',
    'enforce_zdr_anthropic' => true,
    'enforce_zdr_google' => false,
    'enforce_zdr_openai' => true,
    'enforce_zdr_other' => false,
    'enforce_zdr_xai' => false,
    'ignored_models' => null,
    'ignored_providers' => null,
    'limit_usd' => 50,
    'name' => 'My New Guardrail',
    'reset_interval' => 'monthly'
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"allowed_models\": null,\n  \"allowed_providers\": [\n    \"openai\",\n    \"anthropic\",\n    \"deepseek\"\n  ],\n  \"description\": \"A guardrail for limiting API usage\",\n  \"enforce_zdr_anthropic\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_google\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_openai\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_other\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_xai\": false,\n  \"ignored_models\": null,\n  \"ignored_providers\": null,\n  \"limit_usd\": 50,\n  \"name\": \"My New Guardrail\",\n  \"reset_interval\": \"monthly\"\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"allowed_models\": null,\n  \"allowed_providers\": [\n    \"openai\",\n    \"anthropic\",\n    \"deepseek\"\n  ],\n  \"description\": \"A guardrail for limiting API usage\",\n  \"enforce_zdr_anthropic\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_google\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_openai\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_other\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_xai\": false,\n  \"ignored_models\": null,\n  \"ignored_providers\": null,\n  \"limit_usd\": 50,\n  \"name\": \"My New Guardrail\",\n  \"reset_interval\": \"monthly\"\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/guardrails")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"allowed_models\": null,\n  \"allowed_providers\": [\n    \"openai\",\n    \"anthropic\",\n    \"deepseek\"\n  ],\n  \"description\": \"A guardrail for limiting API usage\",\n  \"enforce_zdr_anthropic\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_google\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_openai\": true,\n  \"enforce_zdr_other\": false,\n  \"enforce_zdr_xai\": false,\n  \"ignored_models\": null,\n  \"ignored_providers\": null,\n  \"limit_usd\": 50,\n  \"name\": \"My New Guardrail\",\n  \"reset_interval\": \"monthly\"\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "data": {
    "allowed_models": null,
    "allowed_providers": [
      "openai",
      "anthropic",
      "google"
    ],
    "created_at": "2025-08-24T10:30:00Z",
    "description": "A guardrail for limiting API usage",
    "enforce_zdr": null,
    "enforce_zdr_anthropic": true,
    "enforce_zdr_google": false,
    "enforce_zdr_openai": true,
    "enforce_zdr_other": false,
    "enforce_zdr_xai": false,
    "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "ignored_models": null,
    "ignored_providers": null,
    "include_byok_in_budgets": false,
    "limit_usd": 50,
    "name": "My New Guardrail",
    "reset_interval": "monthly",
    "updated_at": null,
    "workspace_id": "0df9e665-d932-5740-b2c7-b52af166bc11"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 400,
    "message": "Invalid request parameters"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Missing Authentication header"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 403,
    "message": "Only management keys can perform this operation"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "code": 500,
    "message": "Internal Server Error"
  }
}

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

API key as bearer token in Authorization header

Body

application/json

name

string

required

Name for the new guardrail

Required string length: 1 - 200

Example:

"My New Guardrail"

allowed_models

string[] | null

Array of model identifiers (slug or canonical_slug accepted)

Minimum array length: 1

Example:

[
  "openai/gpt-5.2",
  "anthropic/claude-4.5-opus-20251124",
  "deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528:free"
]

allowed_providers

string[] | null

List of allowed provider IDs

Minimum array length: 1

Example:

["openai", "anthropic", "deepseek"]

content_filter_builtins

object[] | null

Builtin content filters to apply. Every builtin slug supports "block", "redact", and the detect-only "flag" action.

Show child attributes

Example:

[
  {
    "action": "block",
    "slug": "regex-prompt-injection"
  }
]

content_filters

object[] | null

Custom regex content filters to apply to request messages

Show child attributes

Example:

[
  {
    "action": "redact",
    "label": "[API_KEY]",
    "pattern": "\\b(sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{48})\\b"
  }
]

description

string | null

Description of the guardrail

Maximum string length: 1000

Example:

"A guardrail for limiting API usage"

enable_free_model_publication

boolean | null

Whether this guardrail allows free endpoints that publish prompts.

Example:

false

enable_free_model_training

boolean | null

Whether this guardrail allows free endpoints that train on request data.

Example:

true

enable_paid_model_training

boolean | null

Whether this guardrail allows paid endpoints that train on request data.

Example:

true

enforce_zdr

boolean | null

deprecated

Deprecated. Use enforce_zdr_anthropic, enforce_zdr_openai, enforce_zdr_google, enforce_zdr_xai, and enforce_zdr_other instead. When provided, its value is copied into any of those per-provider fields that are not explicitly specified on the request.

Example:

false

enforce_zdr_anthropic

boolean | null

Whether to enforce zero data retention for Anthropic models. Falls back to enforce_zdr when not provided.

Example:

false

enforce_zdr_google

boolean | null

Whether to enforce zero data retention for Google models. Falls back to enforce_zdr when not provided.

Example:

false

enforce_zdr_openai

boolean | null

Whether to enforce zero data retention for OpenAI models. Falls back to enforce_zdr when not provided.

Example:

false

enforce_zdr_other

boolean | null

Whether to enforce zero data retention for models that are not from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or xAI. Falls back to enforce_zdr when not provided.

Example:

false

enforce_zdr_xai

boolean | null

Whether to enforce zero data retention for xAI models. Falls back to enforce_zdr when not provided.

Example:

false

ignored_models

string[] | null

Array of model identifiers to exclude from routing (slug or canonical_slug accepted)

Minimum array length: 1

Example:

["openai/gpt-4o-mini"]

ignored_providers

string[] | null

List of provider IDs to exclude from routing

Minimum array length: 1

Example:

["azure"]

include_byok_in_budgets

boolean

Whether BYOK (bring-your-own-key) inference spend counts toward this guardrail's limit_usd, in addition to OpenRouter credit spend. Defaults to false.

Example:

false

limit_usd

number<double> | null

Spending limit in USD

Example:

50

reset_interval

enum<string> | null

Interval at which the limit resets (daily, weekly, monthly)

Available options:

daily,

weekly,

monthly,

null

Example:

"monthly"

workspace_id

string<uuid>

The workspace to create the guardrail in. When omitted, the guardrail is created in the default workspace; if that default has been deleted, the request returns a 400 and you must pass workspace_id explicitly.

Example:

"0df9e665-d932-5740-b2c7-b52af166bc11"

Response

Guardrail created successfully

data

object

required

The created guardrail

Show child attributes

Example:

{
  "allowed_models": null,
  "allowed_providers": ["openai", "anthropic", "google"],
  "content_filter_builtins": [
    {
      "action": "redact",
      "label": "[EMAIL]",
      "slug": "email"
    }
  ],
  "content_filters": null,
  "created_at": "2025-08-24T10:30:00Z",
  "description": "Guardrail for production environment",
  "enable_free_model_publication": false,
  "enable_free_model_training": true,
  "enable_paid_model_training": true,
  "enforce_zdr": null,
  "enforce_zdr_anthropic": true,
  "enforce_zdr_google": false,
  "enforce_zdr_openai": true,
  "enforce_zdr_other": false,
  "enforce_zdr_xai": false,
  "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "ignored_models": null,
  "ignored_providers": null,
  "include_byok_in_budgets": false,
  "limit_usd": 100,
  "name": "Production Guardrail",
  "reset_interval": "monthly",
  "updated_at": "2025-08-24T15:45:00Z",
  "workspace_id": "0df9e665-d932-5740-b2c7-b52af166bc11"
}

API Guides

Versioning

API Reference

Create a guardrail

Authorizations

Body

Response