Getting Started with Salad AI Gateway

Make your first API call to Salad AI Gateway in under 5 minutes.

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

Salad AI Gateway is currently in closed beta. To request access, sign up at salad.com/ai-gateway.

Prerequisites

• A Salad API key — find it in the portal after you have been approved for beta access

Base URL

All requests go to:

https://ai.salad.cloud/v1

Authentication

Pass your Salad API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer <your-salad-api-key>

Step 1: Test with curl

The quickest way to verify access is a single curl call:

curl https://ai.salad.cloud/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SALAD_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "qwen3.6-35b-a3b",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "Say hello in one sentence."}
    ]
  }'

You should receive a JSON response containing the model’s reply.

Step 2: Use the OpenAI Python SDK

Salad AI Gateway is fully compatible with the OpenAI Python SDK — just point it at a different base URL:

pip install openai

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://ai.salad.cloud/v1",
    api_key="your-salad-api-key",
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="qwen3.6-35b-a3b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain what Salad AI Gateway is in two sentences."}],
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Store your key in an environment variable rather than hardcoding it:

export SALAD_API_KEY=your-salad-api-key

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://ai.salad.cloud/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["SALAD_API_KEY"],
)

Step 3: Streaming

For real-time output, enable streaming:

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://ai.salad.cloud/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["SALAD_API_KEY"],
)

stream = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="qwen3.6-35b-a3b",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a short poem about distributed computing."}],
    stream=True,
)

for chunk in stream:
    if chunk.choices[0].delta.content:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content, end="", flush=True)

Step 4: Use the OpenAI JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

npm install openai

import OpenAI from 'openai'

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: 'https://ai.salad.cloud/v1',
  apiKey: process.env.SALAD_API_KEY,
})

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: 'qwen3.6-35b-a3b',
  messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Hello from Salad AI Gateway!' }],
})

console.log(response.choices[0].message.content)

Available Models

Model	Context Window	Best For
qwen3.6-35b-a3b	262,144 tokens	Complex reasoning, agentic tasks, coding
qwen3.6-27b	262,144 tokens	Balanced capability and speed
qwen3.5-9b	262,144 tokens	Fast responses, simple tasks

See the Models Reference for full details.

Next Steps

• Browse integration guides for agentic tools, IDEs, and frameworks
• Read the Models Reference to choose the right model for your use case