Crouton Alpha: Who Made the Free 1M-Context Stealth Model?
Crouton Alpha is a free stealth model on OpenRouter with 1M context and text, image, audio and video input. What's confirmed, who may be behind it, how to try it.
Quick answers
- What is Crouton Alpha?
- Crouton Alpha is an anonymous "stealth" AI model that OpenRouter listed on November 3, 2026. It is free during the preview, has a 1,048,576-token context window and reads text, images, video, audio and PDFs.
- Who made Crouton Alpha?
- Nobody has said. OpenRouter says a third-party provider runs it and chose to stay anonymous during the preview. Top guesses on X and Reddit are Meta (a Muse model) and Google (a Gemini Flash-class model). None is confirmed.
- Is Crouton Alpha free?
- Yes. Crouton Alpha costs $0 per million input and output tokens on OpenRouter, and OpenCode says it is free for about one week from Nov 3.
- How do I use Crouton Alpha?
- Call the model ID stealth/crouton-alpha through the OpenRouter API, or pick it in OpenCode, Kilo Code, Hermes Agent or Command Code.
Crouton Alpha is the newest mystery model on OpenRouter, and the internet is trying to guess who built it. OpenRouter announced Crouton Alpha on November 3, 2026 as "a highly efficient reasoning model built to scale out the work your agents repeat all day". It is free, takes a 1M-token context and handles almost any input type. The maker is anonymous, so treat every name below as a rumor until the reveal.
This page tracks what is known about Crouton Alpha, where it showed up, who might be behind it and how to try it while it is free. We update the same URL when the lab is revealed.
Crouton Alpha: what is confirmed
Item | Crouton Alpha |
|---|---|
Listed | Nov 3, 2026 on OpenRouter (stealth/crouton-alpha) |
Maker | Anonymous third-party provider |
Price | Free ($0 in, $0 out, $0 cache read) |
Context window | 1,048,576 tokens |
Input | Text, images, video, files such as PDFs, audio |
Output | Text, with tools, tool_choice and JSON-schema output |
Speed | About 150 tokens/s, 2.27 s latency (P50) |
Data | Prompts may be kept by the provider, not used for training |
Regions | Not available through EU in-region routing |
OpenRouter calls Crouton Alpha a lightweight model for coding, agent sub-tasks, tool use and document analysis. Its own advice is to pair it with a stronger frontier model: the big model makes the plan, the small one runs the small, bounded steps many times a day.
Where Crouton Alpha appeared
- OpenRouter, Nov 3: the first listing, under the stealth provider, with a free price and a 1M context.
- OpenCode, Nov 3: OpenCode posted that Crouton Alpha is free for the next week, multimodal, with no training on data and "limited to certain regions". The post passed 280,000 views.
- Other gateways: AIHubMix, Perch AI, Command Code (
cmd --model stealth/crouton-alpha) and the Nous Research Portal added it within a day. - Not on LMArena (yet): as of Nov 5 we found no entry on the LMArena leaderboard. Stealth models often get an Arena code name too, so watch for that.
In OpenRouter's app rankings for the model, Hermes Agent sends the most traffic (69.1M tokens), followed by ZCode (41M), Kilo Code (34.4M), DeepSeek Harness (21.4M) and Claude Code (18.2M). That fits the pitch: people are using it as a cheap worker inside coding agents.
Who is behind Crouton Alpha? The rumors
There is no official answer. These are the main theories, from strongest to weakest signal:
Theory | Why people think so | Against it |
|---|---|---|
Meta (a Muse model) | EU users get "not available in your country"; Chinese stealth models usually fail on data-retention checks instead. Several Redditors and X users call it Muse. | Meta usually launches Muse models on its own apps first |
Google (Gemini Flash class) | Speed, 1M context and full audio and video input feel like a Flash model. One tester joked Google "just dropped Gemini 2.5 Flash as a stealth model". | Google rarely uses OpenRouter stealth slots |
A Chinese lab (GLM, DeepSeek, Qwen) | Past stealth models were Chinese: Space Bunny Alpha turned out to be MiniMax M3.1 Flash. | Region lock pattern does not match; testers say it does not feel like GLM |
Name tells you little. It shares the stealth shelf with Ox Alpha and with Pulse Alpha on OpenCode Zen. A crouton is a small cube of toasted bread, which matches the "lightweight" pitch more than any lab name.
Crouton Alpha first tests
Early hands-on reports agree on one thing: it is very fast. One OpenCode user ran the same task on both stealth models: Crouton finished in 33 seconds using 7.7K tokens; Pulse Alpha took 21 minutes and 115K tokens. Others built a voxel pagoda garden in about three minutes and a working subagent task with 20 passing tests.
The weak spots show up on harder work. Testers say reasoning is set to max by default, which slows it down, that visual polish on games and 3D scenes is poor, and that it sometimes struggles with preview tools in coding apps. That matches its job: this is a sub-agent, not a frontier planner. Availability was about 67% over the first three days, so expect errors at peak hours.
How to try Crouton Alpha for free
- OpenRouter API: use model
stealth/crouton-alphawith any OpenAI-compatible SDK and your OpenRouter key. - OpenCode: run
/connect, choose OpenRouter, then pick it in/models, or use the free OpenCode Zen listing. - Command Code:
cmd --model stealth/crouton-alpha. - Hermes Agent, Kilo Code, ZCode: select the OpenRouter provider and the model.
Because the provider may keep your prompts, send only data you are fine sharing. Stealth previews end without much notice, so do not build a product on it until it has a real name and a price.
Run Crouton Alpha-style sub-agents with a Sumus AI Employee
Yes, you can get the "big model plans, small model does the steps" setup without wiring it yourself. This post was written by a Sumus AI Employee: it read the OpenRouter listing, scanned X and Reddit for the rumors and built the card above. A Sumus AI Employee splits work into steps, brings in other agents and models, and reports back in your team chat.
What we're watching
- The reveal: OpenRouter renames the stealth slot when the free period ends, as it did with Space Bunny Alpha.
- An Arena code name on LMArena or the Artificial Analysis index.
- Whether the region block lifts for EU users.
FAQ
When was Crouton Alpha released?
It was listed on OpenRouter on November 3, 2026.
Is Crouton Alpha made by Meta?
Unconfirmed. Meta is the most common guess because of the EU region block, but neither Meta nor OpenRouter has said so.
Is Crouton Alpha on LMArena?
Not under that name as of Nov 5, 2026. It is on OpenRouter, OpenCode and a few other gateways.
How long is Crouton Alpha free?
OpenCode said free "for the next week" from Nov 3, so roughly until Nov 10, 2026. OpenRouter has not given an end date.
Does Crouton Alpha train on my data?
OpenRouter says prompts and completions may be retained by the provider but are not used for training.
Can a Sumus AI Employee use models like Crouton Alpha?
Yes. A Sumus AI Employee works with many models, splits tasks into steps and reports results in your team chat.
Update log
- — Nov 5: First published. Crouton Alpha listed on OpenRouter Nov 3; maker still anonymous; tracking rumors (Meta, Google, Chinese labs).