OpenRouter for Copilot with Custom Request & Credit Check

A VS Code extension that registers a customizable OpenRouter provider in Copilot Chat. Copilot's built-in OpenRouter provider cannot send OpenRouter's provider routing object or a session_id (microsoft/vscode#283201; microsoft/vscode-copilot-release#11420). This extension calls OpenRouter directly instead of through Copilot's CAPI proxy, so every Chat request can carry whatever request-body options you paste — and it tracks your key's credit usage while you work.

What it does

• Adds an "OpenRouter: RC" group to the Copilot Chat model picker with the full OpenRouter catalog (nothing is model-restricted client-side).
• Lets you paste a request body from the OpenRouter Request Builder into one panel; its settings — provider routing, sampling params, response_format, plugins, transforms, cache_control, etc. — apply verbatim to every request until you clear or replace it.
• Presets: pick a preset in the panel to send "preset": "<slug>" on every request; presets that pin a model also appear in the picker as @preset/<slug> entries (up to the first 25). Picker preset entries affect only turns on that entry.
• Reasoning models get VS Code's native Thinking Effort selector (or a simple on/off toggle); reasoning traces render in chat.
• Anthropic-family models (anthropic/*) automatically get a top-level cache_control (unless your pasted body sets its own).
• Model picker entries show estimated blended price per 1M tokens, context window, max output, and capabilities.
• Status bar shows credit remaining; the panel has a usage dashboard.

Always enforced (pasted copies are ignored): model, messages, and tools come from Copilot; stream: true; the extension's own per-session session_id (keeps the prompt cache warm).

The panel

One webview, "OpenRouter for Copilot", with four sections: Settings (save/clear the API key), Usage (credit dashboard), Presets (dropdown), and Custom Request (paste/save/clear). Open it from the status bar item (OR …) or the "OpenRouter: Manage provider" command.

Install (from VSIX)

1. Build: npm install && npm run package → openrouter-copilot-request-credit-<version>.vsix.
2. VS Code → Extensions → "…" → Install from VSIX… → select the file.
3. Open the panel and paste your OpenRouter key (kept in your OS keychain).
4. In Chat, pick a model from the OpenRouter: RC group and use it like any Copilot model.

Usage

1. Build a request at openrouter.ai/request-builder and copy the JSON body.
2. Paste it into Custom Request, then Save (validated; errors are reported).
3. Every subsequent Copilot Chat request follows it until you clear or replace it.

Settings

All six are application-scoped: a workspace cannot redirect your key to another host or weaken the guardrail.

Notes

• Chat and agent mode (tool calls) are supported; inline completions are not (same as BYOK).
• The key only leaves your machine in the Authorization header to OpenRouter.
• The local limit is a display helper; OpenRouter's server-side guardrail enforces the real cap.