Routstr is a decentralized protocol for permissionless, private, and censorship-resistant AI inference. It combines Nostr for discovery and Cashu for private Bitcoin micropayments.

This repo contains Routstr Core: a FastAPI-based reverse proxy that sits in front of OpenAI-compatible APIs and handles pay-per-request billing.

Start Here

Overview: https://docs.routstr.com/overview/
Provider Guide: https://docs.routstr.com/provider/quickstart/
Client Guide: https://docs.routstr.com/client/introduction/
Browse providers and models: https://routstr.com/providers

Basic Usage

If you are a user/developer, you just point an OpenAI-compatible SDK at a Routstr node and pay with a Cashu token.

OpenAI SDK

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.routstr.com/v1",
    api_key="cashuBo2FteCJodHRwczovL21...",
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-5-nano",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hello"}],
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

cURL

curl https://api.routstr.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-cashu: cashuBo2FteCJodHRwczovL21..." \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-5-nano",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "hello"}]
  }'

Quick Start (Docker)

Start a provider node with the guided setup. The default assumes you already have a subdomain with HTTPS and a reverse proxy forwarding to 127.0.0.1:8000, so the node publishes itself on Nostr as soon as it starts. Without a public URL yet, use --private and publish later. Agents: read llms.txt first, and rotate the bootstrap admin password before publishing.

git clone https://github.com/Routstr/routstr-core.git
cd routstr-core
# production: check out a reviewed release tag

# Phase 0: DNS + TLS + reverse proxy -> 127.0.0.1:8000

# Phase 1: start (public is the default)
python3 scripts/node_setup.py start \
  --public-url https://node.example \
  --ln-address you@wallet.com

# Phase 2: back up before configuring
#   routstr_secret.key, keys.db (+ -wal/-shm), .wallet/ and .env
docker compose -f compose.node.yml exec routstr \
  /.venv/bin/python scripts/reveal_nsec.py

# Phase 3: dashboard - rotate the admin password, add an upstream, set pricing
docker compose -f compose.node.yml logs routstr | grep -i admin

# Phase 4: verify
python3 scripts/node_setup.py check --public-url https://node.example

compose.node.yml binds the API to 127.0.0.1 only, starts no Tor service, and starts with analytics off. Your reverse proxy fronts it.
Private mode (python3 scripts/node_setup.py start --private) keeps the node loopback-only and publishes nothing until you set a public URL later.
Port 8000 taken? Pass --port 18080 and point the proxy at it.
Use docker compose -f compose.node.yml ... for every later Compose command. Plain docker compose up selects the different public/Tor stack.
start also mints a long-lived CLI token and writes ~/.routstr/config.json (mode 0600; an existing config for another node is left untouched) so the Routstr CLI can operate the node (routstr instruct, routstr providers list, ...). The token is full node admin; revoke it in Settings → CLI Tokens when done (--no-cli-token skips creation).

See the provider quickstart and the deployment guide for publishing, backups and updates.

Development

make setup
cp .env.example .env
fastapi run routstr