AI API Relay Station's Product Design Philosophy: Simplicity is Justice

Introduction

When building the AI API relay product, we first asked ourselves a question:

What do developers really need?

The answer is simpler than expected: Don’t make them struggle.

Principle 1: Zero Migration Cost

A good API service should not force users to learn new things.

So we chose 100% OpenAI compatibility. No changes to SDK, request format, or response structure.

Users change base_url from api.openai.com to www.ciyuano.com, and everything stays the same.

This is not a technical compromise, but a product attitude——respecting users’ existing knowledge and code.

Principle 2: Hide Complexity

Behind one key, there may be:

• 3 model providers
• 5 backup channels
• Health checks, failover, load balancing
• Real-time billing, balance control

But users only see one thing: Call succeeded.

Leave the complexity to the platform, keep it simple for the user.

Principle 3: Transparent but Not Verbose

The console provides details of each cost and the health status of each channel.

But we don’t require users to constantly monitor it. Proactive alerts on anomalies, quiet operation when normal.

Principle 4: Trust is the Bottom Line

1. Prepaid model: User account balance, platform never touches it.
2. Real-time billing: Every penny spent is crystal clear.
3. Data minimization: Only log necessary request logs, do not store user conversation content.
4. Open source self-deployment: Provide a complete API key management system.

Principle 5: Always Have Free Credits

New users receive credits upon registration, no time limit. This is based on a belief: A good product should let people try before deciding.

Product Roadmap

• ✅ OpenAI fully compatible API
• ✅ Multi-model intelligent routing
• ✅ User console & API Key management
• 🔜 WebSocket protocol support
• 🔜 Function Calling unified proxy
• 🔜 Team collaboration & multi-user management

In Closing

The market is not short of AI API services; what is lacking are services that truly take developer experience seriously.

Ciyuano won’t be the cheapest, nor the fanciest. But we hope it will be the most hassle-free for you to use.

Give it a try, you’ll know in 5 minutes.