‘coarsepeer review is a public good.
setupside-by-sidegithub ↗

Get your OpenRouter key

Takes about 2 minutes. You'll need a credit card for ~$1 in credits.

1.

Create an account

Go to openrouter.ai and click “Get API Key” or sign up with Google / GitHub.

openrouter.aiGet API Key
A unified API for LLMs — one key, many models.
homepage
2.

Add credits

Navigate to Settings → Credits. Add $5 — enough for 4-5 reviews with an open-source model or 1 review with Claude. Unused credits don't expire.

Settings → Credits
Amount
$5.00
Add credits
Balance: $0.00
credits page
3.

Create an API key

Go to Settings → Keys, click “Create Key”, and name it coarse.

Copy the key now — you won't see it again.

Settings → KeysCreate Key
Key namecoarse
Your keysk-or-v1-abc123...def456
keys page
4.

Set a spending limit on the key

On the Keys page, click the menu next to your new key and choose “Edit”. Set a credit limit (e.g. $5). The key stops working once the limit is hit — zero risk of surprise charges.

coarsesk-or-v1-abc...def
Edit
Credit limit for this key
$5.00
Save
key menu

Why this matters: coarse is open-source — you can read every line of code. Your key is sent directly to OpenRouter to run the review, then discarded — it is never stored. But you don't have to trust us: the per-key limit guarantees it can never spend more than you allow, even in the worst case.

5.

Paste into coarse

Come back here, paste your key into the form, and upload your PDF.

Emailyou@university.edu
OpenRouter key
sk-or-v1-...
Review my paper
coarse form
Ready? Review your paper →