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ABTO Guide

Integration guide

Node / Server JavaScript

A server SDK that routes provider requests through ABTO Gateway and carries user and feature context.

Server SDKRuns on your backend (Calling Key)

The Server SDK does not estimate tokens or cost itself. It carries user and feature context on requests headed to the gateway, and lets the gateway record the actual execution.

import type OpenAI from 'openai';
import { initAbto } from '@abto-app/calling';
const abto = initAbto({
abtoApiKey: process.env.ABTO_CALLING_KEY,
gatewayBaseURL: 'https://gateway.abto.app/v1',
providerKeys: {
openai: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY,
gemini: process.env.GEMINI_API_KEY,
anthropic: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,
},
environment: 'production',
});
const { data: completion, response } = await abto.withContext(
{
deviceId: 'device-abc',
featureId: 'review.summary',
},
async () => {
const openai = await abto.openai<OpenAI>();
return openai.chat.completions
.create({
model: 'gpt-4.1-mini',
messages: [{ role: 'user', content: 'Summarize these 12 product reviews in three lines.' }],
})
.withResponse();
},
);
const requestId = response.headers.get('x-abto-request-id');
  • completion: the usual OpenAI response body
  • response: where you read the x-abto-request-id the Gateway issued
SDK inputGateway headerMeaning
abtoApiKeyAuthorization: Bearer …ABTO Calling Key
providerKeys.openaix-abto-key-openaiYour own OpenAI provider key
providerKeys.geminix-abto-key-geminiYour own Gemini provider key
providerKeys.anthropicx-abto-key-anthropicYour own Anthropic provider key
featureIdx-abto-feature-idFeature ID
deviceIdx-abto-device-idEnd-user device identifier (optional)

How providerKeys behaves:

  • Not a setting that registers keys with the Gateway. It is the input that attaches server-held credentials as per-request headers.
  • Passed with request scope only and never stored in call records.
  • If the routed provider has no key, the Gateway rejects that request.
  • Pass a function instead of a string to re-evaluate it on every request. for key rotation and per-provider credential resolvers.

How caller-supplied headers are handled:

  • Do not override x-abto-key-* through extra_headers on a client built by abto.openai().
  • The Calling SDK strips the caller’s Authorization, x-abto-key-*, x-abto-feature-id, and x-abto-device-id, then rebuilds them from the trusted initAbto settings and context.
  • Using the official OpenAI SDK directly instead? Put the same headers in each request’s extra_headers. see the direct OpenAI SDK example.

Field names are the SDK-side spelling; on the wire they become headers.

  • featureId: feature ID (e.g. review.summary), sent as x-abto-feature-id
  • deviceId: sent as x-abto-device-id. Take the browser-generated device_id (browserAbto.getIdentity().deviceId) from your backend request and pass it through.
    • An arbitrary login id will not match the browser’s device_id, so product behavior and sticky per-user assignment will not join.

Rules for handling identifiers:

  • Validate client-supplied deviceId and featureId with your application’s existing request schema.
  • Never accept the Calling Key or provider keys from client requests. Read them only from server environment variables or a server-only credential resolver.
  • Keep abtoApiKey out of browser bundles, static docs, and URLs.

Joining responses to browser and mobile behavior:

  • The Gateway issues x-abto-request-id on the response.
  • Read it with .withResponse() as shown above and include it in your backend response to join the Browser or Mobile SDK LLM trace.
  • The data path is currently OpenAI Chat Completions.
  • Inline base64 images and PDFs in user messages are supported.
  • Function tool calling is supported. When you send tool results back, echo each message.tool_calls[].id as tool_call_id (not the top-level response id).
  • Unsupported fields such as streaming, remote image URLs, and audio are rejected with 400 rather than silently ignored.
  • See Gateway OpenAI compatibility for the exact field list.
const openai = await abto.openai({
clientOptions: { maxRetries: 2 },
});
  • The official OpenAI SDK’s maxRetries applies as written. ABTO never overwrites it.
  • Leave it unset and the official OpenAI SDK default applies.
  • The Calling SDK adds no retry count of its own.
  • Direct fallback exposes no count either, only the resend switch fallback.onTimeout, which is off by default.
  • baseURL and apiKey come from ABTO for trusted routing; every other official client option is preserved.
  • A caller-provided clientOptions.fetch is not discarded. it is composed underneath the ABTO wrapper as the actual transport.

OpenAI direct fallback on Gateway failures

Section titled “OpenAI direct fallback on Gateway failures”

This is the escape hatch back to the endpoint this application used before ABTO. Name that destination in fallback.baseURL; there is no default. If you took an API key straight from OpenAI and used the official SDK, that address is https://api.openai.com/v1.

const abto = initAbto({
abtoApiKey: process.env.ABTO_CALLING_KEY,
providerKeys: { openai: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY },
fallback: {
// The address this code called before ABTO was put in front of it.
baseURL: 'https://api.openai.com/v1',
timeoutMs: 30000,
onTimeout: false,
},
});

The original Chat Completions body and model go straight to that address; the Gateway’s provider/model policy is not reproduced client-side.

Sends the current request directly

  • The request never reached ABTO
  • It reached ABTO but was rejected before the provider was called

In other words, it switches only when the provider certainly did not run, so it never creates a double execution or a double charge.

Does not fall back the current request

  • Timeouts and disconnects with ambiguous delivery. the Gateway may already have run the provider
  • Provider, transport, and internal errors; deterministic 4xx and 429; caller abort; anything after streaming has started
  • The direct circuit stays closed in these cases, and if the official OpenAI SDK retries it calls the Gateway again

Settings

  • baseURL: required. The OpenAI-compatible endpoint used before ABTO. It must accept the OpenAI request path and Authorization: Bearer.
    • Naming this destination is how fallback is turned on. There is no separate enable flag.
    • initAbto throws for fallback: true with no destination, and for a destination with no OpenAI key.
  • timeoutMs: end-to-end cap from local dispatcher wait through the Gateway response headers. Direct requests keep the OpenAI client’s own timeout.
  • onTimeout: true: also resends the timed-out request. An explicit choice that accepts duplicate execution and billing risk.
  • fallback: false: turns the whole feature off.

Boundaries

  • Per SDK attempt the transport makes the Gateway judgment and the direct send exactly once each.
  • Direct calls bypass Gateway policy, ABTO telemetry, and request_id, and must use a model that endpoint supports.
  • Only headers OpenAI needs are forwarded; cookies, proxy credentials, and custom Gateway headers are stripped.
  • After switching to direct, OpenAI responses and errors are returned to the official OpenAI SDK unchanged, and that SDK decides whether to retry.
  • Anthropic and Gemini keys are Gateway routing candidates only, not targets of the SDK’s native direct fallback today.