generated: '2026-07-20'
method: derived
source: >-
  Derived from live probes of https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1 and the
  OpenAI-compatible request/response shapes; docs at portal.nousresearch.com/docs
  are behind bot protection and could not be read verbatim.
summary: >-
  Nous Portal exposes an OpenAI-compatible inference surface with OpenRouter-style
  model routing and a distinctive x402 pay-per-request path.
authentication:
  style: bearer-api-key
  header: Authorization
  format: 'Bearer <nous-portal-api-key>'
  keys_issued_at: https://portal.nousresearch.com
  alt: >-
    x402 HTTP payment protocol — an un-authenticated request to a paid endpoint
    returns HTTP 402 with an `accepts` envelope describing an exact Solana USDC
    micropayment (scheme "exact", network "solana"), enabling agentic
    pay-per-request access without a pre-provisioned API key.
compatibility:
  openai_compatible: true
  base_url: https://inference-api.nousresearch.com/v1
  note: >-
    Standard OpenAI SDKs work by overriding base_url; chat completions follow the
    OpenAI /v1/chat/completions request and response shape.
model_routing:
  style: openrouter
  catalog_endpoint: /v1/models
  id_format: 'namespace/model, e.g. nousresearch/hermes-4-405b'
  aggregates_third_party: true
streaming:
  supported: true
  mechanism: server-sent-events
  trigger: '"stream": true in the request body'
pagination:
  models_endpoint: none-observed
metadata:
  model_pricing_inline: true
  note: /v1/models returns per-token pricing, context_length, and supported_parameters per model.
idempotency:
  supported: unknown
  note: >-
    Not documented on the accessible surface; chat completions are not idempotent
    by nature. No Idempotency-Key parameter observed. No Idempotency pointer emitted.
error_envelope:
  shape: 'openai-style: error object with message, type, code fields'
  payment_required: x402 envelope on HTTP 402 (see errors/nous-research-problem-types.yml)
cross_links:
  authentication: authentication/nous-research-authentication.yml
  errors: errors/nous-research-problem-types.yml
  lifecycle: lifecycle/nous-research-lifecycle.yml