Cua VLM Router: One Provider for All Your Computer-Use Models

If you've been building computer-use agents, you know the reality: every model provider has its own specification and deployment process. Anthropic has one API format, OpenAI another, Google something else entirely. Want to try a Hugging Face model? That's a completely different setup. Self-hosting? Even more complexity. Each provider requires learning their specific API, managing their credentials, and adapting your code to their particular requirements.

Today we're launching the Cua VLM Router: a managed inference API that gives you unified access to multiple vision-language model providers through a single API key. We're starting with Anthropic's Claude models (Sonnet 4.5 and Haiku 4.5)—some of the most loved and widely-used computer-use models in the Cua ecosystem - with more providers coming soon.

What You Get

The Cua VLM Router handles the infrastructure so you can focus on building:

Single API Key

• One key for all model providers (no juggling multiple credentials)
• Works for both model inference and sandbox access
• Manage everything from one dashboard at cua.ai

Smart Routing

• Automatic provider selection for optimal availability and performance
• For Anthropic models, we route to the best provider (Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, or Microsoft Foundry)
• No configuration needed—just specify the model and we handle the rest

Cost Tracking & Optimization

• Unified usage dashboard across all models
• Real-time credit balance tracking
• Detailed cost breakdown per request (gateway cost + upstream cost)

Production-Ready

• OpenAI-compatible API (drop-in replacement for existing code)
• Full streaming support with Server-Sent Events
• Metadata about routing decisions in every response

Available Models (Launch)

We're starting with Anthropic's latest Claude models:

How It Works

When you request an Anthropic model through Cua, we automatically route to the best available provider—whether that's Anthropic directly, AWS Bedrock, or Microsoft Foundry. You just specify cua/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5, and we handle the provider selection, failover, and optimization behind the scenes. No need to manage multiple accounts or implement fallback logic yourself.

Getting Started

Sign up at cua.ai/signin and create your API key from Dashboard > API Keys > New API Key (save it immediately—you won't see it again).

Set your environment variable:

bash
export CUA_API_KEY="sk_cua-api01_..."

Use it with the Agent SDK:

python
from agent import ComputerAgent
from computer import Computer

computer = Computer(
    os_type="linux",
    provider_type="cloud",
    name="your-sandbox-name"
)

agent = ComputerAgent(
    model="cua/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5",  # Cua-routed model
    tools=[computer],
    max_trajectory_budget=5.0
)

messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "Take a screenshot and analyze what's on screen"}]

async for result in agent.run(messages):
    for item in result["output"]:
        if item["type"] == "message":
            print(item["content"][0]["text"])

Migration is Simple

Already using Anthropic directly? Just add the cua/ prefix:

Before:

python
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
agent = ComputerAgent(model="anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929")

After:

python
export CUA_API_KEY="sk_cua-api01_..."
agent = ComputerAgent(model="cua/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5")

Same code structure. No other changes needed.

Direct API Access

The router exposes an OpenAI-compatible API at https://inference.cua.ai/v1:

bash
curl -X POST https://inference.cua.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${CUA_API_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
    "stream": true
  }'

Works with any OpenAI-compatible client library.

FAQs

What's Next

This is just the beginning. We're actively iterating based on feedback:

• Additional model providers
• Custom model routing rules
• Usage alerts and budget controls
• Team collaboration features

If there's a model or feature you need, let us know in Discord.

Need Help?

• Documentation: cua.ai/docs/agent-sdk/supported-model-providers/cua-vlm-router
• Quickstart Guide: cua.ai/docs/get-started/quickstart
• Discord Community: discord.gg/cua-ai

Get started at cua.ai or check out the VLM Router docs.