diff --git a/aviary/backend/server/models.py b/aviary/backend/server/models.py
index 3e5c4440..28d9e8a5 100644
--- a/aviary/backend/server/models.py
+++ b/aviary/backend/server/models.py
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ class AppArgs(BaseModel):
 
 
 class RouterArgs(BaseModel):
-    models: Union[str, LLMApp, List[Union[LLMApp, str]]]
+    models: Dict[str, Union[str, LLMApp]]
 
 
 class PlacementConfig(BaseModel):
diff --git a/aviary/backend/server/run.py b/aviary/backend/server/run.py
index 94c97991..e086bb97 100644
--- a/aviary/backend/server/run.py
+++ b/aviary/backend/server/run.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from aviary.backend.llm.vllm.vllm_engine import VLLMEngine
 from aviary.backend.llm.vllm.vllm_models import VLLMApp
 from aviary.backend.server.app import RouterDeployment
-from aviary.backend.server.models import LLMApp, RouterArgs, ScalingConfig
+from aviary.backend.server.models import LLMApp, ScalingConfig
 from aviary.backend.server.plugins.deployment_base_client import DeploymentBaseClient
 from aviary.backend.server.plugins.execution_hooks import (
     ExecutionHooks,
@@ -111,8 +111,7 @@ def router_deployment(
 
 
 def router_application(args):
-    router_args = RouterArgs.parse_obj(args)
-    llm_apps = parse_args(router_args.models, llm_app_cls=VLLMApp)
+    llm_apps = parse_args(args, llm_app_cls=VLLMApp)
     return router_deployment(llm_apps, enable_duplicate_models=False)