model-routing-patterns

# Model Routing Patterns

Production-ready model routing configurations and strategies for OpenRouter that optimize for cost, speed, quality, or balanced performance with intelligent fallback chains.

## Purpose

This skill provides comprehensive templates, scripts, and strategies for implementing sophisticated model routing in OpenRouter-powered applications. It helps you:
- Reduce API costs by routing to cheaper models when appropriate
- Optimize for speed with fast models and streaming
- Maintain quality with premium model fallbacks
- Implement intelligent task-based routing
- Build reliable multi-tier fallback chains

## Activation Triggers

Use this skill when:
- Designing model routing strategies
- Implementing cost optimization
- Setting up fallback chains for reliability
- Building task complexity-based routing
- Configuring dynamic model selection
- Optimizing API performance vs cost tradeoffs
- Implementing A/B testing for models
- Setting up monitoring and analytics

## Available Routing Strategies

### 1. Cost-Optimized Routing
**Goal:** Minimize API costs while maintaining acceptable quality

**Strategy:**
- Use free models (google/gemma-2-9b-it:free, meta-llama/llama-3.2-3b-instruct:free)
- Fallback to budget models (anthropic/claude-4.5-sonnet, openai/gpt-4o-mini)
- Premium models only for complex tasks requiring highest quality

**Template:** `templates/cost-optimized-routing.json`

**Best for:**
- High-volume applications
- Simple tasks (classification, extraction, formatting)
- Development/testing environments
- Budget-constrained projects

### 2. Speed-Optimized Routing
**Goal:** Minimize latency and response time

**Strategy:**
- Prioritize fastest models regardless of cost
- Enable streaming for immediate feedback
- Use smaller models with quick inference
- Geographic routing to nearest endpoints

**Template:** `templates/speed-optimized-routing.json`

**Best for:**
- Real-time chat applications
- Interactive user experiences
- Low-latency requi