The latest articles on DEV Community by SH-YYZ (@aitokenhub). https://dev.to/aitokenhub https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3996396%2F6eecf6e2-245c-48bb-968b-143999c1e6d6.jpg https://dev.to/aitokenhub en SH-YYZ Mon, 22 Jun 2026 07:59:02 +0000 https://dev.to/aitokenhub/how-i-built-a-cost-effective-ai-api-gateway-for-chinese-llms-in-10-minutes-8j3 https://dev.to/aitokenhub/how-i-built-a-cost-effective-ai-api-gateway-for-chinese-llms-in-10-minutes-8j3 <h1> How I Built a Cost-Effective AI API Gateway for Chinese LLMs in 10 Minutes </h1> <p>As an indie developer, I've been looking for ways to reduce API costs without sacrificing quality. OpenAI is great, but the cost adds up quickly.</p> <p>I started exploring Chinese LLMs — they offer similar quality at a much lower price. But there's a problem: each provider has its own API format, payment system, and sometimes requires a Chinese phone number to register.</p> <p>So I built a unified API gateway using an open-source tool called <strong>One API</strong>. It translates standard OpenAI-style requests into calls to various Chinese model providers.</p> <h2> Quick Demo </h2> <p>Here's what I did:</p> <ol> <li>Deployed One API on a VPS</li> <li>Added a channel for Zhipu AI (Chinese provider)</li> <li>Generated an API key</li> <li>Tested it with curl</li> </ol> <p>Here's a sample call:</p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> bash curl http://aitokenshub.net:3000/v1/chat/completions \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "model": "glm-4-flash", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, introduce yourself"}] }' </code></pre> </div> ai opensource webdev showdev