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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.

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What Guardrails Enforce

ControlDescription
Model allow-listRestrict which models members can use
Provider allow-listRestrict which providers requests can route to
Spending limitsPer-key and per-organization budget caps
Rate limitsRequest rate limits per key or member
Data policiesZDR enforcement, data collection restrictions

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Spending Limits

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

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Via Dashboard

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

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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}'
FieldTypeDescription
limit_usdnumberMaximum 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
    }
  }
}

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Rate Limits

Restrict requests per minute or per day per API key.

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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
    }
  }'
FieldTypeDescription
requests_per_minuteintegerMax requests per minute. null = unlimited.
requests_per_dayintegerMax requests per day. null = unlimited.
When the rate limit is exceeded, the API returns 429 Too Many Requests.

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Model Allow-Lists

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

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Via Dashboard

Go to API Keys → Edit Key → Allowed Models.

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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."
  }
}

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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"]
  }'

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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.

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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).

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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)

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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.