Smart model routing directly in Claude, Codex and Cursor

We built a model router that plugs into coding agents (e.g. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, etc.) and intelligently sends requests to the best model to serve them. Here's a quick demo of running it locally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isKhAyivtfM.At Weave, we write most of our code with AI, and it's been getting more expensive. This came to a head when Opus 4.7 was released and, thanks to its tokenizer changes, our costs shot up. We knew we didn't need Opus for everything but we didn't want to lose out on the intelligence for the cases where you really need it. So we decided to build a model router to handle this for us.The Weave Router acts as an Anthropic/OpenAI endpoint specifically for coding agents. It looks at every inference request and intelligently (more on that in a sec) decides what model to send it to, handling all the translations required along the way. So it can use faster/cheaper models (e.g. DeepSeek v4, GLM 5.2, Kimi K2.6) when possible, and frontier models (Opus 4.8 & GPT 5.5 (& Fable whenever it's back)) when necessary.How do we know what model to route to? We trained an RL model on tens of thousands (so far!) of agent traces. We reward the routing model when it selects an LLM that successfully completes the given task.Here's an example: if you ask the router to plan a complex change, it will (probably) route that request to Opus 4.8. Subagents exploring the codebase to gather context will be routed to more suitable models (e.g. DeepSeek V4 Flash). Then when you have the plan ready to implement, it will be (most likely) be handed to a quicker model (e.g. GLM 5.2) to carry it out.We've been using this internally for the last month or so. We've saved 40% on tokens vs. what we otherwise would have paid, with no noticeable differences in quality or velocity.The router is source-available under Elastic License 2.0, so you can self-host it. Or if you prefer, you can also use our h

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FL score

75

out of 100

Verdict

VALIDATE

high confidence

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A smart router that directs coding AI requests to the most cost-effective and capable model to optimize performance and reduce expenses.

The pain

Using large AI models for coding tasks is expensive, and not all tasks require the most advanced or costly models, leading to unnecessary high costs.

The gap

There is no widely adopted system that dynamically routes coding requests to the best-suited AI model based on task complexity and cost, balancing quality and expense.

Build angle

Develop and refine the routing model with more data and user feedback, focusing on integration ease and measurable cost savings without quality loss.

Strengths

  • Clear cost savings demonstrated internally (40% token cost reduction).
  • Source-available under Elastic License 2.0, allowing self-hosting and transparency.
  • Uses reinforcement learning trained on real agent traces for routing decisions.
  • Supports multiple AI models, enabling flexibility and future-proofing.

Risks

  • Routing accuracy and quality trade-offs may vary with different codebases or user needs.
  • Dependence on external models and their API changes could break compatibility or affect performance.
  • Market adoption may be slow if integration complexity or maintenance overhead is high.
  • Competitors or platform providers might build similar routing internally, reducing differentiation.

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