Zero Data Retention (ZDR): What It Means for AI APIs

Zero Data Retention (ZDR) means an AI provider processes your prompt, returns a response, and doesn’t store it afterward. It’s a retention guarantee. It doesn’t keep data inside your network, control what your application logs, or automatically cover third-party tools connected to the request. This page explains what ZDR covers, what it doesn’t, and how to enforce it on your API calls. ZDR prevents an eligible inference provider from retaining your prompts and responses. Your data still reaches the provider and is processed by the model. On OpenRouter, you can enforce ZDR through account settings, guardrails, or the provider.zdr request field. ZDR applies to provider inference. Your logs, enabled tools, plugins, and other storage features require separate controls. What is zero data retention (ZDR)? Zero Data Retention is a data-handling policy under which an AI provider processes your request without persisting the prompt or response. ZDR governs provider-side retention. It doesn’t mean your…