Regions & API Key Scopes

Relai operates in two fully isolated regions: EU and US. You choose where your data is processed on a per-key basis — keep everything strictly in one region, or use global keys to route on a per-request basis while keeping a single billing account.

Available Regions

RegionEndpointInfrastructure
EUapi.eu.llmrelai.comAWS Frankfurt + Azure West Europe
USapi.us.llmrelai.comAWS Virginia + Azure East US

API Key Scopes

Each API key has a scope that determines how it can be used. You select the scope when creating a key in the dashboard.

ScopeKey FormatWhere It RunsBilling
Regionalrelai_sk_eu_live_…Only its own regionIn that region
Globalrelai_sk_gbl_eu_live_…Any region (your choice per request)Always in home region (EU here)

The segment after relai_sk_ (either eu/us or gbl_eu/gbl_us) tells Relai the key's home region — where the organization, balance, and usage ledger live.

Regional Keys

Regional keys are bound to a single region. Prompts and completions never leave that region. Use them when data residency matters and you want the strongest guarantees.

# Regional EU key — must hit the EU endpoint
curl https://api.eu.llmrelai.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer relai_sk_eu_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "smart",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
  }'

Sending a regional key to the wrong region returns a region_mismatch error.

Global Keys

Global keys can be sent to any Relai region. The serving gateway authenticates the key against its home region over an internal RPC, processes the request locally, then settles usage back to the home region for unified billing.

Use them when you want to:

  • Serve EU and US customers with one Relai account — pick the execution region per request.
  • Keep a single balance — credits and the usage ledger live only in your home region.
  • Avoid maintaining multiple accounts just to access different regional capacity.
# A global EU-home key sent to the US gateway for a US-resident user
curl https://api.us.llmrelai.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer relai_sk_gbl_eu_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "smart",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
  }'

# The same key, this time hitting the EU gateway
curl https://api.eu.llmrelai.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer relai_sk_gbl_eu_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "smart",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Bonjour"}]
  }'

Per-Region Rate Limits

Rate limits for global keys are enforced per execution region, not globally. A key with an RPM limit of 60 can send 60 RPM through the EU gateway and another 60 RPM through the US gateway at the same time. If you need a strict global ceiling, use separate regional keys.

Cross-Region Latency

The first request on a peer gateway for a given global key adds one cross-region authentication hop (typically 80–150 ms EU↔US). The result is cached on that gateway for 60 seconds, so subsequent requests have no extra overhead. Usage settlement back to the home region is fully asynchronous and does not add latency to your requests.

Choosing Between Regional and Global

Use CaseRecommended Scope
Strict GDPR / data residency for EU customers onlyRegional
Multi-region SaaS with one billing accountGlobal
Strict per-key global RPM ceilingRegional (one per region)
Want execution region chosen per requestGlobal

Private Cloud Infrastructure

Both scopes run on the same private cloud backends — Amazon Bedrock and Azure OpenAI — where frontier AI labs cannot access your data:

  • Zero training on your data — Anthropic, OpenAI, and other frontier labs never see your prompts or use them for training.
  • No logging by model providers — Your conversations are not stored or analyzed by AI companies.
  • Contractual guarantees — DPAs with AWS and Microsoft, not with frontier labs who may change policies.

How a Cross-Region Request Works

  +------------+      +------------+      +--------------------+
  |  Your App  | ---> | US Gateway | ---> | Bedrock / Azure US |
  |  (global   |      | (Virginia) |      |   (Private Cloud)  |
  |   EU key)  | <--- |            | <--- |                    |
  +------------+      +-----+------+      +--------------------+
                            |
                            | 1) auth + balance + quota (HMAC)
                            | 2) async usage settle (HMAC)
                            v
                      +------------+
                      | EU Gateway |  <- home region
                      | (Frankfurt)|     (org, balance, ledger)
                      +------------+

Important: with a global key, the prompt and completion do run in the execution region you chose — only authentication metadata and usage events flow between gateways.

GDPR Compliance

For EU customers processing personal data:

  • Data Processing Agreement (DPA): Available on request, covering AWS and Azure sub-processors.
  • Sub-processors: Only AWS and Microsoft — no frontier AI labs in the data processing chain.
  • Data Retention: Prompts and completions are never stored (zero-retention policy).
  • Use regional EU keys if you must guarantee that no EU prompt ever leaves the EU region.

Dashboard Region

Your dashboard account itself is region-specific — sign in on the region where your organization lives:

  • EU users: app.llmrelai.com
  • US users: us.app.llmrelai.com (coming soon)

Regardless of where your dashboard is, you can issue both regional keys (locked to your home region) and global keys (usable on any gateway) from the same organization.

Next Steps