diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cc2c0a5f..12aad625 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ MCP CLI supports all providers and models from CHUK-LLM, including cutting-edge
 | **Perplexity** 🌐 | Sonar models | Real-time web search with citations |
 | **IBM watsonx** 🏢 | Granite, Llama models | Enterprise compliance |
 | **Mistral AI** 🇪🇺 | Mistral Large, Medium | European, efficient models |
+| **OrcaRouter** 🐋 | openai/gpt-4o-mini, orcarouter/auto | OpenAI-compatible routing gateway — 150+ models behind one API key |
 
 ### Robust Tool System (Powered by CHUK Tool Processor v0.22+)
 - **Automatic Discovery**: Server-provided tools are automatically detected and catalogued
@@ -208,6 +209,7 @@ Comprehensive documentation is available in the `docs/` directory:
   - Azure: `AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY` and `AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT` (for enterprise GPT-5)
   - Google: `GEMINI_API_KEY` (for Gemini models)
   - Groq: `GROQ_API_KEY` (for fast Llama models)
+  - OrcaRouter: `ORCAROUTER_API_KEY` (keys start with `sk-orca-`; 150+ models behind one endpoint)
   - Custom providers: Provider-specific configuration
 - **MCP Servers**: Server configuration file (default: `server_config.json`)
 
@@ -502,6 +504,7 @@ mcp-cli --server sqlite --provider anthropic --model claude-4-5-opus
 /provider openai                   # Switch to OpenAI (requires API key)
 /provider anthropic                # Switch to Anthropic (requires API key)
 /provider openai gpt-5             # Switch to OpenAI GPT-5
+/provider orcarouter               # Switch to OrcaRouter (requires ORCAROUTER_API_KEY)
 
 # Custom Provider Management
 /provider custom                   # List custom providers
diff --git a/src/mcp_cli/auth/provider_tokens.py b/src/mcp_cli/auth/provider_tokens.py
index 96e2a771..8a1eb7e4 100644
--- a/src/mcp_cli/auth/provider_tokens.py
+++ b/src/mcp_cli/auth/provider_tokens.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
     "mistral": "MISTRAL_API_KEY",
     "perplexity": "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY",
     "openrouter": "OPENROUTER_API_KEY",
+    "orcarouter": "ORCAROUTER_API_KEY",
     "togetherai": "TOGETHER_API_KEY",
     "deepseek": "DEEPSEEK_API_KEY",
     "azure_openai": "AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY",
diff --git a/src/mcp_cli/model_management/gateway_providers.py b/src/mcp_cli/model_management/gateway_providers.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4905a533
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mcp_cli/model_management/gateway_providers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+"""Built-in gateway providers registered into chuk_llm at startup.
+
+chuk-llm ships named providers (openai, anthropic, openrouter, ...) in its
+bundled YAML configuration. Aggregator gateways such as OrcaRouter are
+registered here so mcp-cli users can select them by name and by their own
+API key without waiting for a chuk-llm release to add them.
+
+Registration is idempotent: if a chuk-llm version already ships the provider
+natively, we leave its definition untouched.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+from typing import Any
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+#: OrcaRouter OpenAI-compatible gateway.
+ORCAROUTER_BASE_URL = "https://api.orcarouter.ai/v1"
+ORCAROUTER_API_KEY_ENV = "ORCAROUTER_API_KEY"
+ORCAROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL = "openai/gpt-4o-mini"
+
+#: Named gateway providers to register into the chuk_llm config manager.
+#: The default client class (OpenAI-compatible) is used, mirroring how the
+#: bundled chuk_llm.yaml wires openrouter / deepseek / moonshot.
+GATEWAY_PROVIDERS: dict[str, dict[str, Any]] = {
+    "orcarouter": {
+        "api_key_env": ORCAROUTER_API_KEY_ENV,
+        "api_base": ORCAROUTER_BASE_URL,
+        "default_model": ORCAROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL,
+        "models": ["*"],
+    },
+}
+
+
+def register_gateway_providers(config: Any) -> None:
+    """Register built-in gateway providers into a chuk_llm config manager.
+
+    Args:
+        config: A chuk_llm configuration manager (as returned by
+            ``chuk_llm.configuration.get_config()``). ``None`` is a no-op.
+    """
+    if config is None:
+        return
+
+    try:
+        existing = set(config.get_all_providers())
+        for name, definition in GATEWAY_PROVIDERS.items():
+            if name in existing:
+                continue
+            config.register_provider(name=name, **definition)
+            logger.info("Registered built-in gateway provider: %s", name)
+    except Exception as e:  # pragma: no cover - defensive
+        logger.warning("Failed to register built-in gateway providers: %s", e)
diff --git a/src/mcp_cli/model_management/model_manager.py b/src/mcp_cli/model_management/model_manager.py
index 56b5daa2..92cbfa08 100644
--- a/src/mcp_cli/model_management/model_manager.py
+++ b/src/mcp_cli/model_management/model_manager.py
@@ -60,6 +60,14 @@ def _initialize_chuk_llm(self) -> None:
             from chuk_llm.configuration import get_config
 
             self._chuk_config = get_config()
+
+            # Register built-in gateway providers (e.g. OrcaRouter) so users
+            # can select them by name out of the box.
+            from mcp_cli.model_management.gateway_providers import (
+                register_gateway_providers,
+            )
+
+            register_gateway_providers(self._chuk_config)
             logger.debug("Loaded chuk_llm configuration")
 
             # Use configured default provider (from defaults.py)
diff --git a/tests/model_management/test_gateway_providers.py b/tests/model_management/test_gateway_providers.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..68d2d1e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/model_management/test_gateway_providers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+"""Tests for built-in gateway provider registration."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+from mcp_cli.auth.provider_tokens import PROVIDER_ENV_VAR_MAP
+from mcp_cli.model_management.gateway_providers import (
+    GATEWAY_PROVIDERS,
+    ORCAROUTER_API_KEY_ENV,
+    ORCAROUTER_BASE_URL,
+    ORCAROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL,
+    register_gateway_providers,
+)
+
+
+class TestRegisterGatewayProviders:
+    """Tests for register_gateway_providers()."""
+
+    def test_registers_orcarouter_with_openai_compatible_wiring(self) -> None:
+        """OrcaRouter is registered as a named OpenAI-compatible provider."""
+        mock_config = MagicMock()
+        mock_config.get_all_providers.return_value = ["openai", "anthropic"]
+
+        register_gateway_providers(mock_config)
+
+        mock_config.register_provider.assert_called_once_with(
+            name="orcarouter",
+            api_key_env=ORCAROUTER_API_KEY_ENV,
+            api_base=ORCAROUTER_BASE_URL,
+            default_model=ORCAROUTER_DEFAULT_MODEL,
+            models=["*"],
+        )
+
+    def test_skips_provider_already_registered(self) -> None:
+        """If chuk_llm already ships orcarouter, leave it untouched."""
+        mock_config = MagicMock()
+        mock_config.get_all_providers.return_value = ["openai", "orcarouter"]
+
+        register_gateway_providers(mock_config)
+
+        mock_config.register_provider.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_none_config_is_noop(self) -> None:
+        """A missing config manager should not raise."""
+        register_gateway_providers(None)
+
+    def test_registration_failure_is_swallowed(self) -> None:
+        """A failing registration should not crash startup."""
+        mock_config = MagicMock()
+        mock_config.get_all_providers.side_effect = RuntimeError("boom")
+
+        register_gateway_providers(mock_config)
+
+    def test_gateway_provider_defaults_are_sane(self) -> None:
+        """The OrcaRouter definition is a named OpenAI-compatible gateway."""
+        orcarouter = GATEWAY_PROVIDERS["orcarouter"]
+        assert orcarouter["api_base"] == "https://api.orcarouter.ai/v1"
+        assert orcarouter["api_key_env"] == "ORCAROUTER_API_KEY"
+        assert orcarouter["models"] == ["*"]
+
+
+class TestProviderEnvVarMap:
+    """Tests for the provider token env var mapping."""
+
+    def test_orcarouter_maps_to_orcarouter_api_key(self) -> None:
+        assert PROVIDER_ENV_VAR_MAP["orcarouter"] == "ORCAROUTER_API_KEY"