Auto-route tasks to the cheapest z.ai (GLM) model that handles the job correctly. Flash for lookups, Standard for reasoning, Plus/32B for the hard stuff.

TL;DR

Auto-route tasks to the cheapest z.ai (GLM) model that works correctly. Three-tier progression: Flash → Standard → Plus/32B. Classify before responding.

10-Second Pitch

**What it does:** Inspects each task, classifies complexity, routes to the right GLM tier
**Key win:** GLM Flash is 100x cheaper than Plus/32B for simple tasks
**Best for:** z.ai integrators who want the cost/performance sweet spot

Setup

pip install zai-router

zai-router configure --provider zai

Simple query → Flash

zai-router route "What's the weather in Berlin?"

Analytical task → Plus/32B

zai-router route "Analyze the tokenomics trends for the last 30 DeFi protocols by TVL"

Tier Breakdown

Model	Use When	Cost
Flash	Q&A, greetings, reminders, lookups	~$0.001/1K tokens

Standard	Code generation, summaries, reasoning	~$0.01/1K tokens

Pros / Cons

Plus/32B	Complex analysis, multi-step agents	~$0.10/1K tokens

Pros	Cons
Significant cost savings at scale	Requires careful prompt classification

Preserves output quality for complex tasks	Flash may miss nuance in edge cases

Verdict

If you're building on z.ai, `smart-model-routing-for-zai` is mandatory. The cost difference between Flash and Plus/32B is 100x — and most user queries don't need the big model. Smart routing is the first thing you should ship.

#ai #model-routing #glm #zai #cost-optimization

Automatic tier escalation when needed	Some latency overhead from classification

smart-model-routing-for-zai: Z.ai Model Routing That Actually Works