Hey everyone! First of all, don’t worry, this isn’t some kind of scam lol. I’m not giving you some random link and asking you to click it. 😂

I discovered something yesterday and wanted to share it with you, especially because I think this could be really useful for people using Janitor for free or those who only have Plus.

Google currently has a promotion where you can get $300 in Welcome Gift credit when you add a payment method through Google AI Studio. The credit is valid until December 24.

Now, the $300 credit can’t normally be used directly for the Gemini API in AI Studio. It’s meant for Google Cloud services. But there’s actually a way to use that credit through OpenRouter.

I set everything up yesterday and it works. And you’re not limited to Gemini either. You can use models available on OpenRouter like DeepSeek, Claude, and others.

Basically, you create a Vertex AI API through Google Cloud and Google gives you the credentials as a JSON file. Then you use OpenRouter’s BYOK feature and paste the contents of that JSON file there.

So it basically works like this:

Vertex AI → OpenRouter → Janitor Proxy

You connect Vertex AI to OpenRouter, then create an API key on OpenRouter and use that API key with Janitor’s Proxy.

I explained the process below as simply as I can, but if you want to understand everything properly and do it step by step, you can just ask ChatGPT or Gemini while you’re setting it up. It’s honestly not that difficult or complicated. It took me around 5 minutes.

Here’s what you need to do to get the free $300 and use it through OpenRouter.

1. Search for Google AI Studio on Google and open the site. Create an API key.

When you open the site, Google should already show the offer at the top. It’ll say something about adding a payment method and getting the $300 Welcome Gift.

Add a bank card. You can use a card with no money on it or just use a virtual card. It only asks you to add a payment method. You don’t need to actually buy anything or make a transaction.

I’d still recommend removing the virtual card afterward.

2. Go to the Google Cloud website. It’s the console.google site.

On the main page, you should see the $300 credit. It’ll show something like $0/$300, or the equivalent amount in your own currency like you can see in the screenshot.

I might not explain the next part perfectly, but it’s pretty simple.

Just ask GPT or Gemini. I personally did it with Gemini and it walked me through everything step by step.

You need to create a Vertex AI API and download the credentials as a JSON file.

Then create an OpenRouter account and go to the BYOK section.

For the Name field, you can type whatever you want.

Then open the JSON file, copy everything inside it, paste it into the field below, and save it.

After that, create an API key on OpenRouter.

Go to JanitorAI and use that OpenRouter API key in the Proxy settings.

Then go back to OpenRouter, choose whatever model you want to use, copy the model name or ID, and paste that into your Proxy settings.

And that’s pretty much it.

Hope this helps some of you! You can also take screenshots of each step and send them to Gemini or GPT while you’re doing it. Just ask what you need to do next and they’ll guide you through the whole setup.