{"slug": "first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway", "title": "First-call checklist before trying a new LLM gateway", "summary": "A checklist the author uses when testing a new OpenAI-compatible LLM gateway, which helps catch integration failures before moving real workloads. For Chinese models like Qwen, DeepSeek, GLM, and Kimi, common first-call blockers include account setup, payment, model naming, and insufficient request logs for debugging. The author is collecting these failure cases while building AnLink API notes and provides a beta link for testing.", "body_md": "I have been using the same small checklist whenever I try a new OpenAI-compatible LLM gateway. It catches most integration failures before I move any real workload.\nFor Chinese models like Qwen, DeepSeek, GLM and Kimi, the first blocker is often not model quality. It is account setup, payment, model naming and whether the gateway gives enough request logs to debug the first call.\nI am collecting small first-call failure cases while building AnLink API notes. If you are testing this path, the beta entry is here: https://anlinkai.com/?ref=r_d0dbd2241021", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/xuxu_8309f491756bc5701316/first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway-4f60", "published_at": "2026-05-18 19:54:17+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-18 20:07:05.622227+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["large-language-models", "developer-tools", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Qwen", "DeepSeek", "GLM", "Kimi", "AnLink"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/first-call-checklist-before-trying-a-new-llm-gateway.jsonld"}}