For workshop participants who are just getting started, one thing worth planning for is the API account setup friction. Getting participants to sign up for 3-4 different providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, etc.) eats into workshop time and creates billing confusion for people from different countries.

What I've found works well: pick one harness (Claude Code or Codex are both reasonable starting points — Claude Code leans Linux/terminal, Codex is a bit more GUI-friendly for mixed-OS groups) and then have everyone connect it to a single API gateway that provides access to multiple models via one OpenAI-compatible endpoint. That way participants can experiment with 'plan with GPT, implement with DeepSeek, review with Claude' without managing five different API keys and billing dashboards.

OpenRouter is the one most people mention but there are alternatives worth comparing on pricing. For workshops outside the US, the payment method flexibility matters more than people expect — not everyone has an international credit card.