> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://lava.so/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Gateway vs Post-Request Reporting

> Understand the tradeoffs between routing AI calls through Lava's gateway and reporting usage after the fact for monetization

export const providerCountLabel = "185+";

While Lava's AI Gateway seamlessly enables usage-based billing, it is possible to manually report usage to Lava via [`POST /v1/requests`](/api-reference/requests/create-request) instead of using the Gateway. However, Gateway is the recommended integration approach with more powerful enforcement capabilities.

|                                | Gateway routing                                                          | Post-request reporting                                        |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **When Lava sees the request** | Before, during, and after                                                | After only                                                    |
| **Usage tracking**             | Automatic (tokens, cost, model)                                          | You extract and report it                                     |
| **Pre-request balance checks** | Yes — block if insufficient credits                                      | No — request already ran                                      |
| **Works with**                 | [Supported AI providers](/gateway/supported-providers)                   | Anything — AI, APIs, compute, storage                         |
| **Endpoint**                   | [`POST /v1/forward`](/api-reference/core-endpoints/forward-post-request) | [`POST /v1/requests`](/api-reference/requests/create-request) |

Post-request reporting enables **billing**, while Gateway routing enables **billing + enforcement + automatic tracking**. If you're billing AI usage and starting fresh, start with the gateway.

***

## What you get with gateway routing

### Block requests when customers are out of credits

**Gateway:** Customer exhausted their plan and hit their card limit. They try to make a request. Lava rejects it *before* it reaches OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini. No wasted API call.

**Post-request:** The request already ran. You're out the provider cost for a customer who can't pay.

### Know if a customer can afford an operation before running it

**Gateway:** Before an expensive agent loop, Lava checks if they have budget. If not, the request is rejected and you can show "please upgrade."

**Post-request:** You find out after you've already burned provider costs.

### One source of truth for usage

**Gateway:** The request that hit the provider is the same request that generated the billing record. Token counts, cost, and model are captured automatically. Nothing to reconcile.

**Post-request:** You have provider logs and Lava records. You're extracting usage data from each provider's response format, normalizing it, and reporting it yourself. If the two don't match, you're debugging two systems.

### Works across all providers with one integration

**Gateway:** Same billing flow whether you're calling OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, or any of [{providerCountLabel} supported providers](/gateway/supported-providers). One integration, all providers metered the same way.

**Post-request:** Each provider returns usage differently. You normalize and report each one.

***

## When post-request reporting makes sense

Post-request reporting via [`POST /v1/requests`](/api-reference/requests/create-request) is the right choice when:

* **Non-AI usage** — You're billing for API calls, compute time, storage, or any operation that doesn't go through an AI provider
* **Your own API keys** — You call AI providers directly with your own keys (unmanaged / bring your own key) and want Lava to handle billing only
* **Unsupported providers** — You use a provider Lava doesn't proxy yet
* **Can't change the request path** — You're deeply integrated with provider SDKs and can't swap the base URL

It works well. But for AI usage, you're responsible for extraction and enforcement logic that gateway routing gives you for free.

### How it works

After each billable operation, report it to Lava:

```typescript theme={null}
import { Lava } from '@lavapayments/nodejs';

const lava = new Lava();

// After your operation completes
await lava.requests.create({
  request_id: crypto.randomUUID(),    // Idempotency key
  customer_id: customerId,            // Which customer to charge
  meter_slug: 'my-meter',             // Which pricing to apply
  input_tokens: response.usage.prompt_tokens,
  output_tokens: response.usage.completion_tokens
});
```

Populate only the fields relevant to your usage type:

| Fields                               | Use case                                    |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- |
| `input_tokens`, `output_tokens`      | LLM APIs (GPT-4, Claude, etc.)              |
| `input_characters`, `output_seconds` | Text-to-speech                              |
| `input_seconds`, `output_characters` | Speech-to-text                              |
| `output_seconds`                     | Video generation                            |
| *(none)*                             | Flat per-request pricing (meter handles it) |

See the [Create a Request API reference](/api-reference/requests/create-request) for the full field list.

***

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Forward Proxy" icon="arrow-right-arrow-left" href="/gateway/forward-proxy">
    Technical details on routing requests through Lava's gateway
  </Card>

  <Card title="Supported Providers" icon="grid" href="/gateway/supported-providers">
    See all {providerCountLabel} AI providers you can route through Lava
  </Card>
</CardGroup>