How do I use OpenRouter with browser-use for DeepSeek when it fails with 429 or 'Could not parse response'?

Question

I'm using browser-use 0.1.35 on Ubuntu 22.04 and only have an OpenRouter API key, not a DeepSeek key. I configured ChatOpenAI with base_url='https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 (opens external site)' and model='deepseek/deepseek-chat', but the browser opens and nothing happens; the logs show 'Could not parse response' and HTTP 429 'Authentication Fails. Multiple 401 errors detected.' Is there a working way to use OpenRouter with browser-use?

Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/567

AgentArmor team · Accepted Answer

This issue is closed as completed, but no maintainer gave a fix; the information below is from community comments. Several users hit the same problem on browser-use 0.1.35 / Ubuntu 22.04. The reporter's `deepseek/deepseek-chat` call through OpenRouter failed with `Could not parse response`, then HTTP 429 with metadata `Authentication Fails. Multiple 401 errors detected`. Another user got HTTP 404 `No endpoints found that support tool use` for `openai/chatgpt-4o-latest` and `deepseek/deepseek-r1`. No one in the thread confirms a working OpenRouter + DeepSeek setup.

Community findings:

- One user found that disabling vision and using a different OpenRouter model (Gemini Flash 2.0) worked for them, while another user later reported the same failure with an OpenRouter Gemini 2.0 Flash model.
- A detailed community workaround suggested installing `langchain-community` and using:

```python
from langchain_community.chat_models import ChatOpenAI

llm = ChatOpenAI(
    model="google/gemini-2.0-pro-exp-02-05:free",
    openai_api_key=openrouter_api_key,
    openai_api_base="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1",
    temperature=0.0,
    max_tokens=4096,
    model_kwargs={"tool_choice": "auto"},
)
```

The same comment proposed patching `convert_input_messages()` in `browser_use/agent/message_manager/utils.py` and `get_next_action()` in the Agent class, but the thread never confirms that the patched code works.

General advice: use an OpenRouter model that documents tool-use support, and keep the API key in an environment variable instead of hard-coding it in the script.

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What a GitHub user tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

Reporter used ChatOpenAI from langchain_openai with base_url='https://openrouter.ai/api/v1', model='deepseek/deepseek-chat', api_key='sk-or-v1-xxx', and use_vision=False. The browser opened but stayed empty; logs showed 'Could not parse response' then HTTP 429 'Authentication Fails. Multiple 401 errors detected'.

Source: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/567

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @prigozhinfan tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

Another user tried openai/chatgpt-4o-latest and deepseek/deepseek-r1 through OpenRouter and got HTTP 404 'No endpoints found that support tool use'. deepseek/deepseek-chat worked the day before but then started failing with 'Could not parse response'.

Source: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/567#issuecomment-2640555911

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @kazGuido tried on GitHub** (Worked)

One commenter reported that disabling vision and using a different OpenRouter model (Gemini Flash 2.0) worked, while DeepSeek via OpenRouter did not.

Source: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/567#issuecomment-2663165027

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @agn-7 tried on GitHub** (Didn't work)

Another user tested an OpenRouter Gemini 2.0 Flash model and got the same 'Could not parse response' style failure, so the earlier success was not reproduced.

Source: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/567#issuecomment-2693475773

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @UnixSafe tried on GitHub** (Outcome unclear)

A commenter posted a detailed workaround: install langchain-community, use ChatOpenAI with openai_api_base='https://openrouter.ai/api/v1' and model='google/gemini-2.0-pro-exp-02-05:free', and patch browser-use's message conversion. The thread does not confirm the final result, and the get_next_action() change is cut off.

Source: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/567#issuecomment-2710518976

How do I use OpenRouter with browser-use for DeepSeek when it fails with 429 or 'Could not parse response'?

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How do I use OpenRouter with browser-use for DeepSeek when it fails with 429 or 'Could not parse response'?

6 answers

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