What Is ToolRouter? The Complete Guide to AI Tool Superpowers

ToolRouter is a managed catalog and execution layer for specialist AI tools. Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Cursor, and other compatible clients can discover and call tools through MCP, while applications can use the CLI or REST API. ToolRouter centralizes tool schemas, execution, provider access, usage tracking, and billing instead of requiring a separate integration for every capability. See also the compare hub and AI info.

The core idea is simple: keep the assistant's reasoning in the client while adding defined external actions when its built-in capabilities or data sources are not enough.

Why ToolRouter Exists#

AI clients now include different combinations of browsing, research, file, code, and media features. Those built-ins vary by product and plan. ToolRouter exists for teams and users who want one managed interface to additional providers, structured data, and specialist actions across clients.

Connecting an AI to several specialist services can mean maintaining separate integrations, credentials, authentication flows, and configuration.

ToolRouter provides a single hosted endpoint for its managed catalog. Compatible MCP clients can discover the catalog through one connection. Some tools still require a provider credential, account permission, or explicit approval; those requirements are shown in the live schema.

How ToolRouter Works#

ToolRouter is built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP) — an open standard created by Anthropic in 2024 that lets AI assistants discover and call external tools in a standardised way. Think of MCP as the USB-C port for AI: one protocol, any tool, any client. You can learn more about the underlying standard in the full MCP explainer.

Here is what happens when you use ToolRouter:

1. You connect ToolRouter to your client. Use the supported MCP URL, CLI command, or configuration for that client.
2. ToolRouter auto-provisions your account. On the first tool call, ToolRouter automatically creates your account and grants you access to all free tools. No separate sign-up, no form to fill in.
3. Your AI discovers the full tool catalog. ToolRouter tells your AI what tools exist and what each one does. Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor reads this list automatically.
4. You ask your AI to do things. You do not pick tools manually. You just talk to your AI normally: "generate a product photo for this coffee brand," "find me 50 leads at B2B SaaS companies in London," "research who our top three competitors are and what ads they're running."
5. ToolRouter routes the request to the right providers. Behind the scenes, ToolRouter calls the appropriate APIs, handles authentication, manages provider fallbacks, and returns the results.
6. Your AI uses those results to answer you. The final response combines Claude's or ChatGPT's reasoning with live, real-world data and generated content.

You can describe the outcome or name a tool explicitly. The client may select a tool, request approval, or ask for clarification depending on its configuration and the action.

What ToolRouter Can Do#

ToolRouter provides a broad catalog across the main categories of AI-assisted work. Here are the core capabilities:

Content Creation#

• Image generation — generate and edit images, product photos, illustrations, and social visuals with the models currently exposed by the image generation tool.
• Video generation — create short clips from supported text or image inputs using the models shown in the live tool schema.
• UGC-style video — produce authentic-looking user-generated content videos for product advertising. See the UGC video tool.
• Music generation — generate background music, sound effects, and audio tracks from text descriptions.
• Product photography — create studio-quality product photos from a simple object image without a physical shoot.

Research and Intelligence#

• Web search — search the web in real time for current information, news, prices, and facts beyond the AI's training data. See the web search tool.
• Deep research — run multi-source research across the web and return a comprehensive, cited report on any topic. Try the deep research tool.
• Competitor research — collect and analyse public evidence about positioning, pricing, content, and advertising.
• Ad library search — search supported public ad-library sources and review the returned creative and copy.

Lead Generation and Sales#

• Lead finder — build candidate lists by supported company and role filters, with source or confidence information where providers supply it. Verify contact data before use.
• Contact enrichment — enrich a list of names or companies with contact details, firmographic data, and technology stack.

SEO and Website Analysis#

• SEO tool — audit any webpage for meta tags, structured data, Core Web Vitals, and ranking issues.
• GEO tool — assess generative engine optimization and citation-readiness signals without promising a citation outcome.
• Keyword research — identify the best keyword opportunities for any topic or domain using live search data.
• Site crawler — crawl permitted public pages within configured limits and extract content, links, and technical details.

Finance and Data#

• Stock market — pull live prices, historical data, earnings, and fundamentals for any publicly traded company.
• Currency conversion — convert between any currencies using live exchange rates.
• Chart generation — turn any data into a clean chart or visualization.

Utilities#

• Screenshots — capture full-page screenshots of any website.
• Translation — translate text between supported languages.
• Weather — get current and forecast weather data for any location.

Which AI Assistants Work with ToolRouter#

ToolRouter works with any AI client that supports MCP. As of 2026, that includes:

How ToolRouter Pricing Works#

ToolRouter includes free and paid tools. The live tool schema and pricing page show the current cost before paid calls.

For tools that involve third-party API costs — image generation, video creation, lead data — ToolRouter uses a pay-as-you-go model:

• No monthly subscription required for individual use
• Platform-key calls are charged the greater of $0.005 or the reported provider cost
• Credit top-ups include the purchase fee shown on the pricing page

Bring your own key (BYOK): For supported providers, ToolRouter charges the greater of $0.001 or 5% of the reported provider cost, while the provider bills your key separately.

See the full pricing page for details.

How to Get Started#

Setup differs by client.

For Claude (web chat or Desktop):

1. Go to claude.ai → Customize → Connectors
2. Click +, then Add custom connector
3. Paste the ToolRouter MCP URL: https://api.toolrouter.com/mcp

For Claude Code:

claude mcp add toolrouter -- npx -y toolrouter-mcp

For Cursor, VS Code, or Windsurf: Add this to your MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "toolrouter": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "toolrouter-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Full setup guides for every client are in the ToolRouter documentation.