Why I Use the Same LLM Key for Claude Code and My Character Chats

For a while I had two LLM setups. One key wired into my coding agent (Claude Code, Cline). A different key, different provider, for the character-chat client I mess with on weekends. Two dashboards, two top-ups, two model lists to keep straight. That split is everywhere in this space, and once you notice it you can't unsee it. Every AI gateway picks one lane Look at the OpenAI-compatible gateways and they sort cleanly into two camps: Developer gateways - MegaLLM, Portkey, LiteLLM,...