Configuration

Set provider keys from the environment or pass them through provider_config, and see which methods each provider’s key serves.

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.