Getting started

The Norlen API is OpenAI-compatible: any SDK or tool that talks to OpenAI works by swapping the base URL and the key. In three steps you go from zero to your first response.

1. Create your account

   Go to the dashboard at app.norlen.io and sign up with Google, GitHub, or email and password. New accounts start on the Free plan (Gemma 4 12B model, 5 requests/min).

2. Generate your API key

   In the dashboard, open Dashboard and copy your API key. It authenticates every call — treat it like a password and never expose it in the browser or in public repositories.

   # Store the key in an environment variable
   export NORLEN_API_KEY="sk-..."

3. Make your first call

   Point your client at https://api.norlen.io/v1 and use your key as a Bearer token.

   curl

   curl https://api.norlen.io/v1/chat/completions \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $NORLEN_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "model": "qwen3.6-35b",
       "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain embeddings in one sentence."}]
     }'

   Python

   from openai import OpenAI
   
   client = OpenAI(
       base_url="https://api.norlen.io/v1",
       api_key="your-token",  # or os.environ["NORLEN_API_KEY"]
   )
   
   resp = client.chat.completions.create(
       model="qwen3.6-35b",
       messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain embeddings in one sentence."}],
   )
   print(resp.choices[0].message.content)

   Node.js

   import OpenAI from "openai";
   
   const client = new OpenAI({
     baseURL: "https://api.norlen.io/v1",
     apiKey: process.env.NORLEN_API_KEY,
   });
   
   const resp = await client.chat.completions.create({
     model: "qwen3.6-35b",
     messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Explain embeddings in one sentence." }],
   });
   console.log(resp.choices[0].message.content);

The response follows the OpenAI format:

{
  "id": "chatcmpl-...",
  "object": "chat.completion",
  "model": "qwen3.6-35b",
  "choices": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "message": { "role": "assistant", "content": "Embeddings são..." },
      "finish_reason": "stop"
    }
  ],
  "usage": { "prompt_tokens": 18, "completion_tokens": 24, "total_tokens": 42 }
}

Already using the OpenAI SDK?

No need to rewrite anything. Just change base_url (Python) or baseURL (Node) to https://api.norlen.io/v1 and use your Norlen key.

Next steps

Authentication

How API keys work, security best practices, and rotation. See authentication →

API reference

Chat, embeddings, and image generation — endpoints and parameters. See the API →