Does querying the balance consume quota?

No. Balance queries are read-only: they are not billed, do not consume quota, and do not refresh the key's last-used timestamp.

Why is the returned balance different from my wallet balance?

If this key has its own total quota, the endpoint returns that key's remaining quota; for a subscription group it returns the subscription's remaining quota. Only keys with no key-level quota and no subscription group fall back to the account wallet balance.

Can I still query the balance when it is zero or the quota is used up?

Yes. The balance endpoints only validate the key itself and do not enforce quota, so you can always see how much is left, even when business calls would be rejected. In that case is_active is false.

Is OpenAI's /v1/dashboard/billing supported?

No. Use /v1/user/balance or /v1/credits instead. Polling /v1/dashboard/billing/subscription or /v1/dashboard/billing/usage returns 404.

Do I need an account and password to query the balance?

No. An sk- API key is enough; no login and no JWT are required. For account-level detail export, use the JWT API described in Export Usage Details.

Query Your Balance with an API Key

Query the remaining quota of the current key with an sk- API key: GET /v1/user/balance returns is_active / balance / unit, and GET /v1/credits returns OpenRouter-style total_credits / total_usage, compatible with third-party clients such as cc-switch.

Use an sk- API key to query the remaining quota and availability of that key. It is intended for third-party clients that display a balance in their UI, or for scripts that monitor the balance.

These endpoints are read-only: they are not billed and do not consume quota. Authentication only validates the key itself, so you can still read the remaining quota even after the quota is used up and business requests would be rejected (in that case is_active is false).

1. Endpoint overview

Endpoint	Client format it matches	Returns
`GET /v1/user/balance`	cc-switch generic balance template	`is_active` / `balance` / `unit`, plus `used` / `total` when the key has a total quota
`GET /user/balance`	Same as above, for a Base URL without `/v1`	Identical to the row above
`GET /v1/credits`	OpenRouter style	`data.total_credits` / `data.total_usage`

Item	Value
Base URL	`https://api.lmuai.com`
Authentication	`Authorization: Bearer <sk-...>`
Response format	JSON
Login required	No, the API key is enough

/user/balance is an alias of /v1/user/balance (used when a client's Base URL is set without /v1). /v1/credits has no root-path alias and must include /v1.

2. Which balance is returned

balance is not necessarily the account wallet balance — it is the remaining quota actually available to the current key, resolved in this order:

Order	Key situation	What `balance` means
1	The key has its own total quota	That key's remaining quota (`total - used`)
2	The key belongs to a subscription group	The subscription's remaining quota (`unit` is `requests` when counted by request)
3	Neither of the above	The account wallet balance

is_active additionally indicates whether the key can currently be used for business calls: it is true when the key is active, not expired and its total quota is not used up; it is also false when the key belongs to a subscription group with no active subscription.

3. `GET /v1/user/balance`

GET /v1/user/balance HTTP/1.1
Host: api.lmuai.com
Authorization: Bearer sk-xxxxxxxx

Response — wallet balance mode (key has no quota and is not in a subscription group):

{
  "is_active": true,
  "balance": 1575.13,
  "unit": "USD"
}

Response — the key has a total quota (in this case used and total are also returned):

{
  "is_active": true,
  "balance": 6,
  "unit": "USD",
  "used": 4,
  "total": 10
}

Response — subscription group counted by request:

{
  "is_active": true,
  "balance": 842,
  "unit": "requests"
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
`is_active`	bool	Whether the key can currently be used for business calls
`balance`	number	Remaining quota; see `unit` for the unit
`unit`	string	`USD` (default), or `requests` for subscription groups counted by request
`used`	number	Only present when the key has a total quota — quota already used by this key
`total`	number	Only present when the key has a total quota — this key's total quota

used / total only have meaningful values in key-quota mode. Wallet balance and subscription modes do not return these fields — use balance and do not derive it from total - used.

4. `GET /v1/credits`

OpenRouter-style balance format; clients display the remaining quota as total_credits - total_usage.

GET /v1/credits HTTP/1.1
Host: api.lmuai.com
Authorization: Bearer sk-xxxxxxxx

Response:

{
  "data": {
    "total_credits": 20,
    "total_usage": 4
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
`data.total_credits`	number	Used + remaining, so that `total_credits - total_usage` equals exactly the remaining quota
`data.total_usage`	number	Quota already used

total_credits is a composite value of "used + remaining" — it is not the literal quota limit. In wallet balance mode total_usage is 0 and total_credits equals the balance; when the quota is used up the remaining quota is clamped to 0, so total_credits then equals the amount used.

5. Configuring third-party clients

Client / scenario	How to configure
cc-switch generic balance template	Base URL `https://api.lmuai.com` (without `/v1`) or `https://api.lmuai.com/v1` (with `/v1`) — both work
OpenRouter-compatible clients (Kelivo, RikkaHub, etc.)	Base URL `https://api.lmuai.com/v1`; the client will request `/v1/credits`
Your own script	Call `/v1/user/balance` directly — its fields are easier to read

curl -s https://api.lmuai.com/v1/user/balance \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-xxxxxxxx"

6. Error responses

Balance queries use the gateway's standard API key authentication, so errors come back in the same format as other API calls. When the request has no key:

{
  "code": "API_KEY_REQUIRED",
  "message": "API key is required in Authorization header (Bearer scheme), x-api-key header, or x-goog-api-key header"
}

Status code	`code`	Scenario
`200`	—	Normal response; an exhausted quota, an expired key or a missing subscription also returns `200`, with `is_active: false` meaning the key cannot be used
`401`	`API_KEY_REQUIRED`	The request has no API key
`401`	`INVALID_API_KEY`	The key does not exist or is malformed
`401`	`API_KEY_DISABLED`	The key has been disabled
`403`	`ACCESS_DENIED`	The key has an IP allowlist / blocklist and the current IP is not allowed

For general errors, see Error Codes.

7. Difference from "Export Usage Details"

	The balance endpoints in this page	Export Usage Details
Authentication	`sk-` API key	Account and password exchanged for a JWT
Granularity	Remaining quota of the current key	Account-level, per-request details
Use case	Displaying the balance in a client, balance monitoring	Billing export, reconciliation, feeding a BI system

GET /v1/usage sits between the two: it also takes an sk- key and returns today's / cumulative usage statistics and quota information for the current key, with more detailed fields.

Last updated: 2026-11-05