> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bytespike.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> One key, one base URL, every model — Anthropic-compatible by default.

ByteSpike is a multi-model gateway that speaks **Anthropic Messages** as its
native protocol, with **OpenAI Chat Completions**, **OpenAI Responses**, and
**Gemini Native** shimmed transparently. Behind one key you get text, image,
and video endpoints — billed in transparent credits, not per-vendor SKUs.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Make your first request in under two minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Authentication" icon="key" href="/authentication">
    How API keys, group bindings, and rate limits work.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Reference" icon="code" href="/api-reference/overview">
    Text, image, and video endpoints — one base URL, one auth header.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Pricing" icon="coins" href="https://bytespike.ai/pricing">
    Per-token / per-call rates, no markup tiers.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Why ByteSpike

* **Anthropic-compatible by default** — keep your `tool_use`, `cache_control`, and `thinking` blocks. Same SDK, same retry semantics, every model.
* **Multimodal under one key** — text, image, video — no per-vendor billing surface to assemble.
* **Failures don't bill** — every non-2xx is free. Estimated credits ship in the response header so you can preview cost before user confirmation.
* **Per-key controls** — every API key carries its own quota (USD), rate-limit buckets (5h / 1d / 7d), IP allowlist/denylist, and optional expiry. Org wallets roll up across keys.

## What's behind the gateway

Three protocol surfaces, the full multimodal catalog, and a handful of
utility endpoints — all served from `llm.bytespike.ai`:

| Family  | Models & endpoints                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Text    | `POST /v1/messages` (Anthropic), `POST /v1/chat/completions` (OpenAI), `POST /v1/responses` (OpenAI Responses), `POST /v1beta/models/{model}:generateContent` (Gemini Native) — Claude, GPT-5, Gemini, DeepSeek, Doubao, GLM, Kimi, MiniMax |
| Image   | GPT Image 2 (OpenAI), Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)                                                                                                                                          |
| Video   | Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast, Veo 3.1 Lite (Google)                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| Utility | `GET /v1/models` (list catalog), `GET /v1/usage` (request usage), `POST /v1/tasks/{submit,query,cancel}` (async multimodal), `GET /v1/balance` (free)                                                                                       |

The live model list and per-model pricing are published by the gateway at
`GET /api/v1/model-catalog` and rendered at
[bytespike.ai/models](https://bytespike.ai/models) and
[bytespike.ai/pricing](https://bytespike.ai/pricing) — always current, no
hand-maintained list. This documentation focuses on the request shape,
response shape, and gotchas for each.

## Base URL

```
https://llm.bytespike.ai/v1
```

Anthropic SDKs work out of the box by setting `baseURL` to the value above.
OpenAI SDKs work the same way — see [Authentication](/authentication) for
the per-protocol header layout.