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AI, OpenRouter and Pricing

LLM Cost (OpenRouter)

pinakea uses OpenRouter to access cloud AI models. This page explains where OpenRouter credit can be used and how to keep spending controlled.

Measured guidance pending

Final measured pinakea timing and cost guidance is not published yet. Avoid treating this page as a cost calculator; use OpenRouter’s dashboard and pinakea’s in-app spend indicators for actual usage.

Close-Up of Old Coins

Where OpenRouter Credit Is Used

In Online Mode, OpenRouter is used for:

  • Embeddings for semantic search
  • Micro summaries
  • AI titles
  • AI tags
  • Chat
  • Full/day/daypart summaries
  • AI tag consolidation

In Mixed Mode, OpenRouter is still used for:

  • Chat
  • Full/day/daypart summaries
  • AI tag consolidation

Mixed Mode runs embeddings, micro summaries, AI titles, and AI tags locally. Chat, full summaries, and AI tag consolidation still use OpenRouter.

Initial Library Processing

When you first add sources to pinakea in Online Mode, every item needs embeddings plus summaries, titles, and tags. This is usually the largest one-time OpenRouter usage event for a Set.

Actual usage depends on content length, selected models, provider pricing, and how much work is regenerated. Larger Sets naturally require more processing than smaller Sets.

Ongoing Usage

After initial processing, OpenRouter usage can come from:

  • New items arriving through sources
  • Chat conversations
  • Full summaries
  • Search query embeddings in Online Mode
  • Mode switches that regenerate AI content for a populated Set

Mode Switches

Switching modes can use OpenRouter credit.

  • Online -> Mixed: Online embeddings generated with OpenRouter credit are replaced and cannot be reused for Mixed Mode. Existing summaries, titles, and tags are kept.
  • Mixed -> Online: local embeddings, AI-generated summaries, AI-generated titles, and LLM tags are cleared and regenerated through OpenRouter credit.

Cost Control

You’re never at risk of surprise bills if you set limits:

  1. Set a spending limit on your API key in OpenRouter’s dashboard.
  2. Monitor spending in pinakea’s status bar and OpenRouter’s dashboard.
  3. Avoid automatic top-up unless you explicitly want it.

See OpenRouter and BYOK for setup instructions.