Introduction

CanalAPI is an AI model API aggregation platform that exposes a single endpoint compatible with the OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini protocols, fronting hundreds of large language and multimodal models from overseas providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, …) and Chinese providers (DeepSeek, Moonshot / Kimi, Zhipu, Alibaba Qwen, Baidu ERNIE, MiniMax, and more).

It is operated by a Japan-incorporated entity and serves two complementary audiences:

• Developers and teams inside China that need reliable access to overseas frontier models, with local payment methods (Alipay / WeChat Pay / Stripe) and compliant Japanese invoices (Qualified Invoice / 適格請求書).
• Developers in Japan and the rest of the world that want a fast, affordable gateway into Chinese open-weight and proprietary models.

What this site covers

This site is the public documentation for CanalAPI. It is intended for:

• End users who manage an account, API keys, and billing.
• External developers who want to integrate CanalAPI into their own applications.
• Teams evaluating CanalAPI for production workloads.

It is not a reference for CanalAPI's internal services or operations.

Highlights

• One endpoint, many models. A single Base URL exposes hundreds of models — pick the model name in the request body.
• Three protocols, one platform. OpenAI Chat Completions / Responses, Anthropic Messages, and Google Gemini native — existing SDKs work after a baseURL change.
• Multimodal coverage. Text, vision, tool calling, text-to-image, speech transcription / translation / TTS, text embeddings, content moderation.
• Transparent metering. Every request is recorded with token counts and cost. Real-time balance, usage logs, and CSV export are available in the console.
• Production-friendly. Per-key rate limits, IP / model allowlists, quotas and expiration, standard X-RateLimit-* headers, and clear error semantics.
• Flexible billing. Both prepaid balance (Alipay / WeChat Pay / Stripe) and period-based subscriptions (Stripe Checkout), with Japan-compliant invoicing.
• Account security. Email + password, OAuth (GitHub / Google), TOTP 2FA, active-session management, and new-device login alerts.

Where to go next

• Getting Started — create an account, get an API key, send your first request.
• User Guide — account, API keys, billing, subscriptions, security, referrals.
• Developer Guide — authentication, endpoints, errors, streaming, models, rate limits.
• Examples — curl, JavaScript, Python.
• FAQ

Note: CanalAPI is under active development. Some endpoints and features may evolve. Breaking changes are announced in the Changelog.