Overview

Concepts

Understand the main resources and building blocks of the EmpirioLabs AI platform

The EmpirioLabs API is organized around a few core concepts that appear throughout the docs and API reference.

Core concepts

Models

The AI models available through the platform. Each model has an ID, provider, pricing, supported parameters, context window, and an API status indicating availability. The catalog includes 73+ models across text, image, audio, and video modalities.

Credits

The prepaid balance on your account. API usage debits credits based on the model’s pricing — per token, per request, per image, per audio-second, or per video-second depending on the model type.

API Keys

Bearer tokens that authenticate your requests. Keys use the sk-empiriolabs- prefix. Each account can hold up to 50 keys (adjustable by contacting support).

Rate Limits

Per-account request and token throughput caps. Defaults are 50 RPM and 2,000,000 TPM. Contact support if you need higher limits for production workloads.

How it works

  1. Sign up and add credits. Create an account, add funds from the Billing page, and generate an API key.
  2. Browse the model catalog. Call GET /v1/models to see every available model with its pricing, region, context window, and supported parameters.
  3. Send requests using familiar formats. Use /v1/chat/completions (OpenAI-compatible), /v1/responses (OpenAI Responses-compatible), or /v1/messages (Anthropic-compatible) to interact with any model.
  4. Monitor usage and spend. Each request is logged with token counts, cost, and latency. Check the dashboard for real-time usage data.

Compatibility layer

EmpirioLabs does not require you to learn a new API format. The platform exposes endpoints that match the OpenAI and Anthropic request and response shapes, so you can:

  • Drop in the OpenAI Python/Node SDK by changing base_url and api_key
  • Use the Anthropic SDK by pointing it at the EmpirioLabs /v1/messages endpoint
  • Switch between models from different providers without changing your integration code

See Compatibility for endpoint details and examples.

Key design principles

  • Unified access — one API key, one base URL, 73+ models from multiple providers
  • Prepaid credits — no surprise invoices; top up when you need more capacity
  • Provider-compatible formats — existing OpenAI and Anthropic code works with minimal changes
  • Transparent pricing — every model lists its pricing units and rates in the catalog API