[Feature Request] Option to disable automatic fallback to system key in AI Gateway (BYOK-only mode)

Feedback
1

Problem

When using AI Gateway with BYOK (Bring Your Own Key), if a request to my own API key fails for any reason, AI Gateway automatically falls back to the system key. This consumes my AI Gateway Credits unexpectedly.

In my case, I’m using AI Gateway purely as a proxy (e.g., to bypass network restrictions in certain regions) with my own Anthropic API key via Claude Code. I don’t want or need the fallback functionality — I just need the proxy capability.

Current Behavior

  • Request sent with my own API key

  • If request fails (even temporarily), AI Gateway automatically retries with system key

  • My AI Gateway Credits are consumed without my consent

  • There is no way to disable this behavior

Proposed Solution

Please add an option to disable automatic fallback to system keys. For example:

  • A toggle in the dashboard: “Disable system key fallback”

  • Or an API/SDK parameter: allowSystemKeyFallback: false

  • Or a “BYOK-only mode” that never uses system keys

Use Case

  • Users in regions where direct API access is blocked and need AI Gateway as a proxy only

  • Users who want full control over their API costs

  • Users who prefer requests to fail rather than incur unexpected charges

Impact

This would make AI Gateway more accessible to users who only need the proxy/routing functionality, without the risk of unexpected billing.

Thank you for considering this request!

2

Thanks for making the suggestion! I shared it with the team to consider for future updates

4

Second this one.

We are heavy users of Vercel AI Gateway.

We are in a case where we are latency sensitive and if the the first option with the BYOK does not meet our timeout restrictions, we would want to move on to a fallback model. As I understand it we are right now instead moving to the the same model with non-BYOK and do not have a way to set the timeout in that second case.

We are not in the case where we only want to use as a proxy, but it is is very important for us to have high level of control of the “policy”.

I notice that it says “with support for system provider timeouts coming soon” on the following change log post from March 5. Customize timeouts for faster automatic failover on Vercel AI Gateway - Vercel What is the state of this?

5

Please do it!

6

Has there been any progress update on this issue?