Overview

Manage API key authentication and session tokens. Start here to authenticate requests via Bearer token, obtain session cookies, and configure login requirements for the Nerve API.

Authentication

All requests require a valid Bearer token or session cookie. Obtain a token via POST /api/auth/login or configure REQUIRE_API_KEY=false for local development.

Endpoints

POST /api/auth/login

Authenticate user

curl -X POST https://localhost:20128/api/auth/login \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NERVE_TOKEN"
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

POST /api/auth/logout

Log out

curl -X POST https://localhost:20128/api/auth/logout \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NERVE_TOKEN"
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}'

GET /api/auth/oidc/login

Start OIDC login for the dashboard admin gate

Builds an authorization URL from the configured OIDC issuer/client (discovered via {issuer}/.well-known/openid-configuration, falling back to {issuer}/authorize), sets a short-lived oidc_state cookie, and redirects the browser. Password login remains available as a fallback while OIDC is enabled.

curl https://localhost:20128/api/auth/oidc/login \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NERVE_TOKEN"

GET /api/auth/oidc/callback

Complete OIDC login for the dashboard admin gate

Validates the state cookie, exchanges the authorization code for tokens, verifies the ID token against the issuer's JWKS (audience = client id), and — if oidcAllowedSubjects is configured — checks the token's sub/email against that allowlist. On success it mints the same 30-day auth_token dashboard-session JWT used by password login and redirects to /dashboard.

curl https://localhost:20128/api/auth/oidc/callback \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NERVE_TOKEN"

Payloads

See the full OpenAPI specification at GET /api/openapi/spec or docs/openapi.yaml for detailed request/response schemas.

Nerve

Local/remote AI gateway exposing OpenAI-compatible REST. One key, 207+ providers, auto-fallback, RTK token saver, MCP server, A2A agents.

Setup

export NERVE_URL="http://localhost:20128"      # or VPS / tunnel URL
export NERVE_KEY="sk-..."                       # from Dashboard → API Keys

All requests: ${NERVE_URL}/v1/... with Authorization: Bearer ${NERVE_KEY}.

Verify: curl $NERVE_URL/api/health → {"ok":true}

Discover models

curl $NERVE_URL/v1/models                  # chat/LLM (default)
curl $NERVE_URL/v1/models/image            # image-gen
curl $NERVE_URL/v1/models/tts              # text-to-speech
curl $NERVE_URL/v1/models/embedding        # embeddings
curl $NERVE_URL/v1/models/web              # web search + fetch
curl $NERVE_URL/v1/models/stt              # speech-to-text

Use data[].id as model field in requests. Combos appear with owned_by:"combo".

Capability skills

CLI skills (nerve binary)

Errors

• 401 → set/refresh NERVE_KEY (Dashboard → API Keys)
• 400 Invalid model format → check model exists in /v1/models/<kind>
• 503 Provider circuit open → upstream provider down; retry after Retry-After seconds
• 429 → rate limited; honor Retry-After

Differentiators vs OpenAI direct

• Auto-fallback combos (14 strategies): never stop coding even if a provider rate-limits
• RTK token saver: tool_result compressed via 47 specialized filters (git-diff, test-jest, terraform-plan, docker-logs…) — 20-40% token reduction
• Caveman mode: optional terse system prompt injection (LITE/FULL/ULTRA) — 15-25% completion reduction
• MCP + A2A servers built-in (this is the only AI router that exposes both protocols)
• Memory with FTS5 + Qdrant for persistent agent context
• Guardrails for PII masking, prompt injection detection, vision policies