Quickstart

Create an account, choose CLI, SDK, or REST, and send your first routed request.

Get from zero to a working /v1/chat request in a few minutes.

1. Create an account

Sign up at console.latentkit.com. A new workspace opens a short guided setup: pick an AI provider, connect it with Platform Access or your own key, choose models, confirm your first route, and create an API key. You can skip it and finish later from Finish setup in the sidebar.

2. Choose how you want to connect

Use the path that matches what you are doing:

Path	Best for	Credential
CLI	Humans testing from a terminal, support, debugging, logs, traces, and CI checks	Browser login token or `LATENTKIT_API_KEY`
JavaScript SDK	Node.js, Next.js, Express, serverless, background jobs	`LATENTKIT_API_KEY`
Python SDK	FastAPI, Django, Flask, scripts, workers	`LATENTKIT_API_KEY`
PHP SDK (beta)	WordPress, Drupal, Laravel, PHP workers and scripts	`LATENTKIT_API_KEY`
REST / cURL	Any language, quick tests, AI agents, low-level debugging	`LATENTKIT_API_KEY`

3. Copy an API key for app code

Copy your key when guided setup (or API Keys) creates it — it is shown once, and the console masks existing secrets. Store it in a server-side environment variable:

export LATENTKIT_API_KEY="lk-..."

Never commit API keys or expose them in browser bundles.

If you only want to test from your terminal, you can start with latentkit login instead of copying a raw API key. The CLI opens a browser approval flow and stores a local account profile. App code and CI should still use LATENTKIT_API_KEY.

4. Send a chat request

npm install -g @latentkit/cli
latentkit login
latentkit whoami
latentkit chat "Say hello from LatentKit."

Use JSON when another program or AI agent needs to read the result:

latentkit chat "Say hello from LatentKit." --json

npm install @latentkit/sdk

import { LatentKit } from '@latentkit/sdk';

const client = new LatentKit();

const response = await client.chat.create({
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Say hello from LatentKit.' }],
  response_profile: 'balanced',
  max_tokens: 100,
});

console.log(response.content);

pip install latentkit

import os
from latentkit import LatentKit

with LatentKit(api_key=os.environ["LATENTKIT_API_KEY"]) as client:
    response = client.chat.create(
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello from LatentKit."}],
        response_profile="balanced",
        max_tokens=100,
    )
    print(response["content"])

composer require latentkit/latentkit-php:0.1.0-beta.3

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use LatentKit\LatentKit;

$client = new LatentKit();

$response = $client->chat->create(
    messages: [['role' => 'user', 'content' => 'Say hello from LatentKit.']],
    responseProfile: 'balanced',
    maxTokens: 100,
);

echo $response['content'];

curl https://ai.latentkit.com/v1/chat \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LATENTKIT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Say hello from LatentKit." }],
    "response_profile": "balanced",
    "max_tokens": 100
  }'

5. Understand the response

A successful response looks like this:

{
  "id": "req_abc123",
  "provider": "openai",
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "policy_version_id": "pol_v_xyz789",
  "content": "Hello from LatentKit!",
  "usage": { "input_tokens": 12, "output_tokens": 6, "total_tokens": 18 },
  "cost_usd": 0.0000054
}

content is the assistant's answer; provider and model report which route attempt executed. If something fails, read X-LK-Request-ID from response headers and the JSON error field — see Error handling.

Request fails with NO_HEALTHY_PROVIDER? Your key needs an assigned published route with at least one eligible model. Guided setup creates and assigns one for you; otherwise check Routes and AI Providers in the console. See Troubleshooting.

Route-based requests

Do not send model, provider, route, or policy in application requests. Change provider/model selection by editing the API key's assigned route in the console.

Optional response depth

Pass response_profile to prefer speed or depth when the route allows overrides:

Value	Use when
`fast`	Lower latency, lower token use
`balanced`	Default quality and speed
`deep`	More reasoning depth when supported

Next steps

Authentication
Core concepts — how routing, keys, and capabilities fit together
CLI, JavaScript SDK, Python SDK, or PHP SDK
Streaming, Tool calling, and the other API reference pages
Vibe coding setup — copy a stack-aware prompt for Cursor, Claude, or other AI tools

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