OpenRouter, a service for accessing multiple AI models, lets coding agents consult current model information through its MCPThe Model Context Protocol — an open standard that lets any AI assistant plug into any tool or data source without custom integration code.Full definition → server, a connector for external tools. An AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → can filter models by requirements, compare provider prices and response speeds, then send the same test prompt to different models and inspect their answers and costs. This makes model selection something developers can investigate within their coding workflow. Test requests incur charges; the application itself still uses the regular API. The announcement explains that distinction.
Terms in this piece · Glossary
MCP — The Model Context Protocol — an open standard that lets any AI assistant plug into any tool or data source without custom integration code.
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
benchmark — A standard public test set for comparing AI models — the shared scoreboards behind every "model X beats model Y" claim.
inference — Running a trained model to get answers — the phase where AI is actually used, as opposed to trained.
