SideNote ProHow to connect SideNote Pro to OpenRouter in your browser
Quick Setup leads with Connect with OpenRouter. SideNote Pro opens OpenRouter in your web browser, you sign in and approve it there, and OpenRouter creates an API key for it. SideNote Pro stores that key protected on your PC and sets up GPT-6 Luna. You still need an OpenRouter account, and paid models need credits on it: the SideNote Pro licence includes no AI usage.
What you need
- Windows 11 x64
- That is what SideNote Pro runs on. The 30-day trial is the complete application, so you can connect OpenRouter before you buy a licence.
- An OpenRouter account
- Signing in happens on OpenRouter's own site, in your default web browser. A ChatGPT subscription is not an OpenRouter account, and neither is an OpenAI API account.
- Credits on that account, for paid models
- OpenRouter bills for the models it routes to. The SideNote Pro licence covers the Windows application only, so it includes no usage and no credits.
Nothing is copied and pasted, but a key still exists: OpenRouter creates one for SideNote Pro when you approve, and SideNote Pro keeps it. That is what keeps this bring-your-own-key. The account, the key and the credits are yours, not BediniLabs'.
Connecting, step by step
On a new installation the Set up SideNote Pro screen appears once the trial has started. It opens with Connect with OpenRouter. On an installation that is already set up, Quick Setup at the top of Settings › AI providers opens the same screen whenever you want it. The same screen also has Use an OpenAI API key instead, for pasting an OpenAI key, and I'll set it up manually for any other provider; Getting started lays the three routes side by side.
Set up SideNote Pro
- Select Connect with OpenRouterSideNote Pro opens OpenRouter in your default browser and waits. The screen reads Waiting for you to approve SideNote Pro in your browser…, with Cancel sign-in beside it. You have five minutes.
- Sign in and approve SideNote Pro on OpenRouterUse your OpenRouter account. Approving tells OpenRouter to create an API key for SideNote Pro. The page that opens afterwards on your PC only says the approval arrived: the connection is not made yet.
- Wait while SideNote Pro checks the connectionSideNote Pro collects the key from OpenRouter, asks OpenRouter whether the key works, and loads its model list. Nothing is saved unless both checks pass.
- Select Start using SideNoteYou're ready confirms the connection and reminds you that SideNote Pro cannot see your OpenRouter balance. The profile is saved and the key is stored protected for your Windows account.
Set up SideNote Pro
What gets stored on your PC
The profile is an ordinary one, the same one Add profile creates with OpenRouter chosen. Nothing ties it to Quick Setup, and every field stays editable in Settings › AI providers. SideNote Pro never picks another model on your behalf: if OpenRouter does not offer openai/gpt-6-luna to your account, setup says so and offers manual setup instead. The key is held in a protected credential file under your Windows account and is never written into settings.json; where API keys are stored has the detail.
Settings › AI providers
openai/gpt-6-luna in Model, https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 as the Base URL, a saved key shown only as dots, Reasoning effort on None and Context window on Auto. Test & Load models is still there to check the key again.| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Profile name | OpenRouter |
| Base URL | https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 |
| Model | openai/gpt-6-luna |
| Reasoning effort | None |
| Context window | Auto |
| API key | Created by OpenRouter for SideNote Pro, protected with Windows DPAPI for your Windows account |
The model ID is openai/gpt-6-luna, OpenRouter's name for GPT-6 Luna. The OpenAI API's own ID, gpt-6-luna, is a different string: use each with the endpoint it belongs to.
Accounts, credits and cost
OpenRouter charges for the models you use, under its own pricing and terms. Paid models need credits on your OpenRouter account, and GPT-6 Luna is a paid model there. Neither SideNote Pro nor your licence supplies any.
- A key proves the account, not the balance
- SideNote Pro cannot see your OpenRouter balance. The Open OpenRouter credits link on the setup screen opens OpenRouter's own credits page.
- You find out at the first request
- An account without credit is met when a request is sent, and SideNote Pro reports it as a billing problem, so add credits on openrouter.ai and send again.
- A rate limit is not a missing balance
- A message that OpenRouter is receiving too many requests means wait and retry, not top up.
- Cost estimates are yours to set
- SideNote Pro counts tokens as OpenRouter reports them and shows a cost only after you enter a price under usage and cost tracking.
Where your requests go
BediniLabs is not in the path. Signing in happens between your browser and OpenRouter. OpenRouter sends the approval back to SideNote Pro on your own PC, through an address that works once, for this attempt only, and is closed as soon as it has been used or the wait ends. SideNote Pro then collects the key from OpenRouter directly.
After that, requests go from your PC to the endpoint in the profile, https://openrouter.ai/api/v1. OpenRouter is a router: under its own terms and policies it can pass a request on to the operator of the model you chose. Choosing OpenRouter means trusting OpenRouter, and through it that operator, with whatever you send, the same as choosing any other hosted provider. What stays local, and what reaches your provider sets that out for every provider.
Two small things name SideNote Pro to OpenRouter. The key it creates is labelled SideNote Pro in your OpenRouter account, and requests to OpenRouter carry its optional attribution headers, which name the application and nothing else.
Beside the profiles you already have
Run from Settings › AI providers › Quick Setup, Connect with OpenRouter adds a new profile. It never writes over an existing profile, endpoint, model or key, and your default provider stays the default unless you tick Use this provider by default before you connect. The screen says which it will do: Your current default provider stays the default. or The new profile becomes your default provider.
On a first run, with no provider set up yet, the finished profile becomes your starting provider.
If setup does not finish
Cancelling, declining the approval, letting the five minutes run out, or a check that fails is never presented as a connection. In each case your settings, profiles and keys are exactly as they were.
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
You cancelled, pressed Esc or declined on OpenRouter | Nothing changed. Select Connect with OpenRouter again when you are ready. |
| The five minutes ran out | Start again. The earlier attempt cannot be completed afterwards. |
| The browser did not open | Check that a default browser is set, then try again, or choose another route on the same screen. |
| OpenRouter could not be reached, or is busy | Try again in a moment. A message about too many requests is OpenRouter's rate limit, not missing credit. |
| OpenRouter rejected the key, or your account needs credits | The message says which. For credits, add some on OpenRouter and connect again. |
OpenRouter does not offer openai/gpt-6-luna to your account | Choose I'll set it up manually and pick a model your account can use. |
If OpenRouter had already created the key when setup failed, SideNote Pro says so. That key stays in your OpenRouter account, labelled SideNote Pro, and SideNote Pro cannot remove it for you. Delete it at openrouter.ai/settings/keys if you do not intend to use it.
Adding OpenRouter by hand
OpenRouter is also in the Provider list under Add profile, for a key you created yourself at openrouter.ai/settings/keys. Choosing it fills in the same endpoint, model and reasoning setting as the table above, and the steps are the ones in Getting started. Any other model OpenRouter offers works the same way: change Model to its ID and save. Choosing the right AI model covers what to send where.
- Test & Load models checks the key itself
- OpenRouter publishes its model list to anyone, so a list alone would not prove a key. SideNote Pro also asks OpenRouter about the key, and a mistyped one is reported as rejected.
- The model you chose stays in the picker
- OpenRouter lists hundreds of models. The composer's picker always shows the model a profile is set to, even when it falls outside the part of the list the picker offers.