Guardrails

ARouter Guardrails let organization admins enforce policies that apply to all API keys and all requests within their organization. Guardrails operate at the gateway layer — before any request reaches an upstream provider.

What Guardrails Enforce

Control	Description
Model allow-list	Restrict which models members can use
Provider allow-list	Restrict which providers requests can route to
Spending limits	Per-key and per-organization budget caps
Rate limits	Request rate limits per key or member
Data policies	ZDR enforcement, data collection restrictions

Spending Limits

Set a hard credit limit on any API key. Requests that would exceed the limit are rejected with a 402 error.

Via Dashboard

Go to API Keys → Edit Key → set Credit Limit.

Via API

curl -X PATCH https://api.arouter.ai/api/v1/keys/{key_hash} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lr_admin_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"limit_usd": 50.00}'

Field	Type	Description
`limit_usd`	`number`	Maximum cumulative spend in USD. `null` = unlimited.

When the limit is reached:

{
  "error": {
    "code": 402,
    "message": "Credit limit exceeded for this API key.",
    "metadata": {
      "limit_usd": 50.00,
      "used_usd": 50.01
    }
  }
}

Rate Limits

Restrict requests per minute or per day per API key.

Via API

curl -X PATCH https://api.arouter.ai/api/v1/keys/{key_hash} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lr_admin_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "rate_limit": {
      "requests_per_minute": 60,
      "requests_per_day": 1000
    }
  }'

Field	Type	Description
`requests_per_minute`	`integer`	Max requests per minute. `null` = unlimited.
`requests_per_day`	`integer`	Max requests per day. `null` = unlimited.

When the rate limit is exceeded, the API returns 429 Too Many Requests.

Model Allow-Lists

Restrict an API key to a specific set of models. Requests to other models are rejected.

Via Dashboard

Go to API Keys → Edit Key → Allowed Models.

Via API

curl -X PATCH https://api.arouter.ai/api/v1/keys/{key_hash} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lr_admin_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "allowed_models": [
      "openai/gpt-5.4",
      "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6",
      "google/gemini-2.5-flash"
    ]
  }'

A request to a model not in allowed_models returns:

{
  "error": {
    "code": 403,
    "message": "Model 'openai/o3' is not permitted for this API key."
  }
}

Provider Allow-Lists

Restrict which providers requests can route to. Combine with model allow-lists for fine-grained control.

curl -X PATCH https://api.arouter.ai/api/v1/keys/{key_hash} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lr_admin_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "allowed_providers": ["OpenAI", "Anthropic"]
  }'

Data Policy Enforcement

Enforce Zero Data Retention (ZDR) for all requests made with a key:

curl -X PATCH https://api.arouter.ai/api/v1/keys/{key_hash} \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer lr_admin_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"enforce_zdr": true}'

With enforce_zdr: true, ARouter only routes to providers that have signed Zero Data Retention agreements. See ZDR for details.

Guardrail Hierarchy

Policies are applied in this order (most restrictive wins):

Organization defaults
  └── API Key overrides
        └── Per-request provider object

Example: if your organization default allows only OpenAI and Anthropic, a key-level override cannot add Google. But a key can be more restrictive (e.g., OpenAI-only within that org policy).

Viewing Policy Violations

All guardrail rejections are logged in the Activity page with:

Timestamp
API key used
Rejection reason (rate_limit_exceeded, model_not_allowed, credit_limit_exceeded, provider_not_allowed)
Request metadata (model, tokens if applicable)

Enterprise Controls

For enterprise organizations, additional controls are available:

Organization-wide model allow-lists — Apply to all keys in the org automatically
Member-level budget allocation — Assign individual spending budgets to team members
Audit logs — Full request audit trail for compliance

Contact support@arouter.ai for enterprise Guardrails configuration.

Key Management — Create and manage API keys
ZDR — Zero Data Retention enforcement
Organization Management — Manage team members and shared resources
Usage Accounting — Track spending per key and member

Get Started

Core Concepts

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Best Practices

Frameworks & Integrations

For Providers

Support

What Guardrails Enforce

Spending Limits

Via Dashboard

Via API

Rate Limits

Via API

Model Allow-Lists

Via Dashboard

Via API

Provider Allow-Lists

Data Policy Enforcement

Guardrail Hierarchy

Viewing Policy Violations

Enterprise Controls

​What Guardrails Enforce

​Spending Limits

​Via Dashboard

​Via API

​Rate Limits

​Via API

​Model Allow-Lists

​Via Dashboard

​Via API

​Provider Allow-Lists

​Data Policy Enforcement

​Guardrail Hierarchy

​Viewing Policy Violations

​Enterprise Controls

​Related

What Guardrails Enforce

Spending Limits

Via Dashboard

Via API

Rate Limits

Via API

Model Allow-Lists

Via Dashboard

Via API

Provider Allow-Lists

Data Policy Enforcement

Guardrail Hierarchy

Viewing Policy Violations

Enterprise Controls

Related