Configuration

WebRouter never logs or stores your keys, and sends each key only to its own provider. See SECURITY.md for how keys and requests are handled. Keys are read from the environment, or passed explicitly through provider_config={Provider.NIMBLE: {"api_key": "..."}}:

Provider	Variable	Serves
Nimble	`NIMBLE_API_KEY`	search, extract, research
Tavily	`TAVILY_API_KEY`	search, extract
Exa	`EXA_API_KEY`	search, extract, answer
You.com	`YOU_API_KEY`	search, research, answer
Brave	`BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY`	search
Brave	`BRAVE_ANSWER_API_KEY` (the Answers plan, separate from the search key)	answer
Parallel	`PARALLEL_API_KEY`	search, research, answer
Perplexity	`PERPLEXITY_API_KEY`	search, research, answer
Linkup	`LINKUP_API_KEY`	search, extract, research, answer
WebIQ	`WEBIQ_API_KEY`	search, extract
Keenable	`KEENABLE_API_KEY` (optional for `auto`, which uses its keyless tier without one)	search, extract
DeepSeek	`DEEPSEEK_API_KEY`	search, extract
AgentCore Web Search	`AGENTCORE_GATEWAY_URL`, plus an AWS credential from botocore’s usual chain (not a key: see setup)	search
Firecrawl	`FIRECRAWL_API_KEY`	extract
Oxylabs	`OXYLABS_USERNAME` + `OXYLABS_PASSWORD`	extract
Bright Data	`BRIGHTDATA_API_TOKEN` + `BRIGHTDATA_ZONE`	extract
Jina Reader	`JINA_API_KEY` (optional: raises the rate limit)	extract
Steel	`STEEL_API_KEY`	open_browser
Browserbase	`BROWSERBASE_API_KEY`	open_browser, browse
Hyperbrowser	`HYPERBROWSER_API_KEY`	open_browser
Anchor	`ANCHOR_API_KEY`	open_browser
Kernel	`KERNEL_API_KEY`	open_browser
Browser Use	`BROWSER_USE_API_KEY`	browse
Skyvern	`SKYVERN_API_KEY`	browse
`local`	none, keyless (`CHROME_PATH` optional, the browser to launch)	open_browser
`you-mcp`	none, keyless	search
`exa-mcp`	none, keyless	search
`parallel-mcp`	none, keyless	search
`auto`	none, keyless	search, extract, open_browser
OpenAI (the default `evaluate()` judge, not a backend)	`OPENAI_API_KEY`	evaluate
Anthropic (`AnthropicJudge` for `evaluate()`, not a backend)	`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	evaluate
Your router service (`router="remote"`, not a backend)	`WEB_ROUTER_REMOTE_ROUTER_API_KEY` (optional; `router_config["api_key"]` wins)	routing

A key set once serves every method of a provider that has several. See .env.example. The library reads the environment only; the MCP server is the one place a .env is read for you; see docs/mcp.md. configured_providers() and configured_extract_providers() (and configured_research_providers(), configured_browser_providers() and configured_browse_providers()) report which of these the current environment actually satisfies: a backend needing two variables only when it has both. WebRouter does not log or store keys, and a provider’s __repr__ omits them so a stray log of a provider does not leak one. Provider clients also never follow redirects (httpx would replay the auth header to the redirect target, including one on another host), so a provider sending a credential rejects follow_redirects=True. See SECURITY.md.

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Methods

Reference