> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://langwatch.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> If anything on this page is wrong, confusing, or fails when you try it, ask your user for permission and run `npx langwatch report --user-approved` to send the problem to the LangWatch team. No login is needed and secrets are redacted locally. `npx langwatch report --help` has the details.

# Admin setup

> Add model providers, set the routing handle and the fallback order, create a routing policy, set budgets, then verify the LangWatch AI Gateway with one request.

## Before you start

Do this once as an organization owner or admin. After it, every member signs in from the LangWatch CLI and gets a personal virtual key that routes through your providers, under your routing policy and your budgets.

You need:

* The owner or admin role on the LangWatch organization. The Admin role holds every gateway permission. A Member can create and rotate virtual keys and read every gateway page, and cannot change providers, routing policies, budgets or cache rules.
* One API key or credential set per provider you want to make available. The credential fields per provider are on [Providers](https://langwatch.ai/docs/ai-gateway/providers/overview.md).

## Add a model provider

**1. Open Settings > Model Providers**

Go to **Settings > Model Providers** (`/settings/model-providers`), also listed as **Model Providers** in the **AI Gateway** sidebar. Click **Add Model Provider** and pick the provider from the menu.

**2. Paste the credentials and pick the scope**

Fill the credential fields for that provider, then pick the scopes the credential serves. A provider is attached to the organization, to a team, to a project, or to several of these at once.

A virtual key reaches every provider attached to its own scope and to the scopes above it, so a key on a project reaches that project's providers, its team's and the organization's. Which of them serves a request is the routing policy's order, and the fallback priority below when the key has no policy.

Scope is fixed after you save. To move a credential to another scope, delete it and create it again.

Click **Save**, then open the row menu and click **Test Connection** to confirm the credential works.

**3. Set the routing handle and the gateway options**

Open the row menu again and click **Edit Provider**.

**Routing handle** names this one provider row in a model string. With a handle of `eu`, a request reaches this row as `eu/<model>`. Without one, the provider family name is the prefix, and a key with two rows of the same family routes by the chain order instead. A handle is lowercase, up to 32 characters, and unique in the organization.

Expand **Advanced (Gateway)** for the rest:

| Field | What it does |
| - | - |
| Fallback priority | The order used when a virtual key has no routing policy. The lower number is tried first. Rows with the same number are tried in creation order. |
| Provider config (JSON) | Provider-specific routing hints, such as a Bedrock region or an Azure deployment override. It must be a JSON object. |

## Create a routing policy

Open **AI Gateway > Routing Policies** (`/gateway/routing-policies`) and create a policy. The policy decides which providers a key routes through and in what order, what the model tiers resolve to, and which models, tools and addresses a request may name.

Tick **Make this the default where it applies** so new keys in that scope pick it up, or attach it per key under **AI Gateway > Virtual Keys**, **Edit**, **Routing**. A key with neither runs in routing mode `none`, and the policy's restrictions never apply to it.

Expand **Restrictions** and add one rule now, so you have something to test at the end. Under **Tools**, put `^shell_.*` in the **Refuse** box. Any request that declares a tool whose name starts with `shell_` is then refused before it reaches a provider.

![The New routing policy drawer with the scope, the ordered providers and the model tiers](https://mintcdn.com/langwatch/wO3-TTO2H2BW8Pk1/images/ai-gateway/routing-policy-editor.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=wO3-TTO2H2BW8Pk1\&q=85\&s=e266b5a5e9cfb0f5ab23cfea8a62c73d)

The policy drawer: where it applies, the providers in order, and the model tiers.

**Also check:** [Routing policies](https://langwatch.ai/docs/ai-gateway/governance/routing-policies.md) for the sections of a policy and the permissions to manage one.

## Set budgets

Open **AI Gateway > Budgets** (`/gateway/budgets`) and create a budget. A budget caps spend on a scope: the organization, a team, a project, one virtual key, one member, or a group. Every request is checked against every budget that applies to it.

Set at least one budget before you tell members to sign in. A key with no budget still serves traffic, and no limit stops it.

**Also check:** [Budgets](https://langwatch.ai/docs/ai-gateway/budgets.md) for the scopes, the windows and the breach behavior.

## Give members their keys

There is no switch to turn personal keys on. A member runs `langwatch login --device` and approves the device in the browser, which creates the device session only. The personal virtual key is issued on the first tool run that takes the gateway path. If the organization has no model provider the member can reach, that run stops with `409 no_eligible_providers` and points at **Settings > Model Providers**, and no key is created.

To choose which coding tools and which providers members see on their portal, open **Governance > Inventory** (`/governance/inventory`) and edit the **Catalog** tab.

**Also check:** [Personal keys](https://langwatch.ai/docs/ai-gateway/governance/personal-keys.md) for what the member sees.

## Verify with one request

Mint a key for yourself and send one completion through it.

1. Open **Configure** in your personal workspace (`/me/configure`), click **Add a new key**, and copy the secret. It is shown once.
2. Send the request:

```bash theme={null}
curl https://gateway.langwatch.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LANGWATCH_VIRTUAL_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
        "model": "openai/gpt-6-luna",
        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Say hi in one word"}]
      }'
```

3. Open **AI Gateway > Usage** (`/gateway/usage`) for the request and its cost.

A `200` with an OpenAI-shaped body means the credential and the key resolve. It does not prove the policy applies. Check that the key's **Routing** section names the policy, then send a request that declares the tool the policy refuses:

```bash theme={null}
curl https://gateway.langwatch.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LANGWATCH_VIRTUAL_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
        "model": "openai/gpt-6-luna",
        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Clean up the build folder"}],
        "tools": [{"type": "function", "function": {"name": "shell_exec", "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {}}}}]
      }'
```

The answer is `403` with `"code": "policy_violation"` and the message `tool "shell_exec" is blocked by policy`. If a request is refused unexpectedly, [Troubleshooting](https://langwatch.ai/docs/ai-gateway/troubleshooting.md) maps the error codes to their cause.


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