On August 20, 2026, OpenRouter added stealth/ox-alpha to its catalogue as a reasoning model for coding, sustained agentic work, and production workloads.
What the listing actually says
The public API record lists a 1,048,576-token context window, 131,072 maximum completion tokens, and zero-priced prompts and completions. It accepts text, image, and video, and returns text. OpenRouter says it routes requests and is not the developer, owner, or provider. The operator chose to stay anonymous during this preview. Prompts and completions are retained by that provider and, per the listing, are not used for training.
What the mystery does not settle
TechCrunch reported the next day that Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, whose company is acquiring OpenRouter, called Ox Alpha very impressive. Forums have guessed GLM / Z.ai and others. TechCrunch recorded that split. None of those guesses is a primary source. A fingerprint is not a lab announcement.
What Alberta operators should do
Run one synthetic agent job, then stop. Dummy repos. Fake names. No tenders, client files, or credentials. If the work would hurt if it leaked, it does not belong on a nameless free endpoint. That is the Alberta test: a Sherwood Park shop, a Fort Saskatchewan contractor, or an Edmonton professional firm can learn the shape of a long agent job here, then keep the real inbox on a private AI path.
The guardrail
Price zero is not a data-residency policy, and OpenRouter is the router, not the lab. Named stacks, human approval, and a written data boundary still decide whether this is a trial or a leak. That is also the AI consulting filter: use the free window to score a workflow, not to process a client file.