AI Services — Anthropic, OpenRouter & Claude Subscription

Executive Summary

In brief: AI features in the portal call Claude via Anthropic API or OpenRouter — not via a Claude Pro chat subscription.

Why it matters: Finance and compliance need to know which bill to expect and how to cap usage.

Cost: Usage-based — typically €5–200+/month depending on team adoption; Claude Pro (~$20/mo) is separate for developer chat.

Status: Production uses API keys on Render; OpenRouter optional.

Decision needed: Monitor Anthropic/OpenRouter spend monthly; use separate staging key with budget cap

Services & Costs · AI Content Editing Architecture

Three different “Claude” products

Product	What it is	Pays for portal AI?
Anthropic API	Pay-per-token API keys from console.anthropic.com	✅ Yes — primary production path
OpenRouter	Multi-model API gateway at openrouter.ai	✅ Yes — if OPENROUTER_API_KEY is set
Claude Pro / Team / Max	Chat subscription at claude.ai for humans	❌ No — does not replace app API billing

Important: A Claude Pro subscription gives developers access to claude.ai in the browser. The Governance Portal backend calls the Messages API with ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or OPENROUTER_API_KEY. Those are billed separately on Anthropic Console or OpenRouter — unless your organisation has a specific enterprise/API bundle.

If your team uses Claude Pro for daily work, that cost is developer tooling, not application inference.

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How the portal chooses a provider

Code: backend/src/lib/anthropic-client.ts

If OPENROUTER_API_KEY is set  →  OpenRouter (base URL openrouter.ai/api)
Else if ANTHROPIC_API_KEY     →  Direct Anthropic API
Else                          →  AI features disabled (500 on AI routes)

Model override (optional):

Env var	Example
AI_MODEL	anthropic/claude-sonnet-4 (OpenRouter slug)
OPENROUTER_MODEL	Same
ANTHROPIC_MODEL	Direct Anthropic model ID

Default models in code include Claude Sonnet 4 / 4.5 depending on feature.

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Pricing (indicative, August 2026)

Anthropic API (direct)

Model (examples)	Input	Output
Claude Sonnet 4	~$3 / MTok	~$15 / MTok
Claude Sonnet 4.5	Check anthropic.com/pricing

Billing: prepaid credits or invoiced — set spend limits in Anthropic Console.

OpenRouter

Aspect	Detail
Billing	Prepaid credits; per-model pricing on openrouter.ai/models
Markup	Small fee over provider price
Benefit	One key for multiple models; easy model switching via AI_MODEL

OpenRouter is useful if you want fallback models or consolidated billing across providers.

Claude Pro / Team (chat only)

Plan	Price	Includes API?
Claude Pro	~$20/mo	No — chat only
Claude Team	~$25–30/user/mo	No — team chat + admin
Claude Max	Higher tier	No

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Estimated monthly spend

Usage profile	Est. cost
Light (occasional AI edits, few users)	€5–20
Moderate (regular content teams)	€20–80
Heavy (bulk AI, many concurrent features)	€80–200+

Controls in the app: Budget caps and feature flags where implemented — monitor Anthropic/OpenRouter dashboards weekly during rollout.

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Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	✅*	Direct Anthropic API key (sk-ant-...)
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	⚪	If set, overrides Anthropic (sk-or-v1-...)
OPENROUTER_BASE_URL	⚪	Default https://openrouter.ai/api
OPENROUTER_HTTP_REFERER	⚪	Attribution for OpenRouter
OPENROUTER_APP_TITLE	⚪	App name for OpenRouter
AI_MODEL	⚪	Global model override

* At least one of ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or OPENROUTER_API_KEY required for AI features.

Set on Render → mqa-backend secrets. Never expose in VITE_* frontend vars.

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Staging vs production

Rule	Why
Separate API key for staging	Prevent test traffic from consuming prod budget
Lower spend limit on staging key	Anthropic/OpenRouter dashboard caps
Do not share unlimited prod key	See STAGING-SETUP

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Features using AI

Non-exhaustive list (see AI Content Editing Architecture):

• Streaming content editing
• Sharia compliance checker
• Due diligence assessor
• Tender / feasibility / vendor generators
• Bulk AI edit, module replication
• Masterplan concept generator

All share the same client in anthropic-client.ts.

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Recommended setup for optimal operations

Item	Recommendation
Production key	Anthropic Console or OpenRouter — pick one primary
Spend alerts	Enable in provider dashboard at 50% / 80% of monthly budget
Staging key	Separate key, hard cap (e.g. €10/mo)
Claude Pro for devs	Optional — improves developer productivity, not app runtime
Model policy	Document approved models for compliance (Sonnet 4+ for production)
Audit	Log AI usage in application where available

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Related

• Services & Costs — full cost table
• ENV-INVENTORY — all AI env keys
• AI Content Editing Architecture — feature design
• MONITORING — track errors from AI routes