AI Chatbot

Managing Your Chatbot

Bring Your Own Keys (BYOK)

Use your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Cohere API keys with AI Chatbot for unlimited messages without credit charges.

Bring Your Own Keys (BYOK) lets you connect your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Cohere API keys to AI Chatbot. When your own keys are used, messages don’t count against your monthly credit allowance, giving you effectively unlimited messages.

Replace YOUR_CHATBOT_ID with your actual chatbot ID from the dashboard.

How it works

AI Chatbot supports two levels of API keys:

Account-level keys apply to all your chatbots by default
Chatbot-level keys override your account keys for a specific chatbot

The priority order is: Chatbot key > Account key > Platform key. If no custom key is found for the model’s provider, AI Chatbot falls back to platform keys and messages count against your credits as usual.

Your keys cover more than the chat reply. The steps that prepare each answer (searching your knowledge base, rewriting the question for better search results, message categorization, language detection, and the prompt guard) run on OpenAI models, so they use your OpenAI key whenever you have one saved – even if your chatbot’s main model is a Claude or Gemini model. Search result reranking runs on Cohere, so it uses your Cohere key whenever you have one saved.

Supported providers

Provider

Used for

Key format

OpenAI

GPT models (GPT-4.1, GPT-5, o3, etc.) and answer preparation

sk-...

Anthropic

Claude models (Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Haiku, etc.)

sk-ant-...

Google

Gemini models (Gemini 2.5 Flash, etc.)

AIza...

Cohere

Search result reranking

Your Cohere API key

Google and Cohere keys are account-level only. OpenAI and Anthropic keys can also be set per chatbot.

Adding account-level keys

Account-level keys apply to all chatbots on your account. This is the recommended approach if you want all your agents to use your own keys.

1

Navigate to LLM API Keys

Go to your profile settings by clicking your avatar in the top right, then select LLM API Keys from the sidebar.

2

Click Add Key

Under the provider you want to configure (OpenAI or Anthropic), click Add Key.

3

Enter your API key

Paste your API key into the input field. You can toggle visibility using the eye icon.

4

Save and validate

Click Save Key. AI Chatbot will validate your key by making a test request to the provider. If the key is valid, it will be saved. If validation fails, you’ll see an error message and can try again with a different key.

Adding chatbot-level keys

Chatbot-level keys override your account keys for a specific chatbot. Use this if you want different keys for different agents, or if you only want to use your own keys for certain chatbots. Chatbot-level keys are available for OpenAI and Anthropic; Google and Cohere keys apply account-wide.

1

Go to chatbot settings

Navigate to Configuration > Settings for the chatbot you want to configure.

2

Open the AI Model tab

Click the AI Model tab and scroll down to the Custom API Keys (BYOK) section.

3

Add your key

Click Add Key under the provider you want to configure, paste your API key, and click Save. The key will be validated before it is saved.

Updating or removing keys

To update an existing key, click the Update button next to the masked key, enter the new key, and save. The new key will be validated before replacing the old one.

To remove a key, click the trash icon and confirm the deletion. Your chatbot will fall back to the next available key in the priority chain (chatbot > account > platform).

Security

We take the security of your API keys seriously. Here is how your keys are protected:

Encryption at rest

All API keys are encrypted using AES-256-CBC encryption before being stored in our database. This is the same encryption standard used by banks and government agencies. Your raw API key is never stored in plain text. It is encrypted immediately upon receipt and only decrypted when needed to make a request to the LLM provider on your behalf.

Direct provider communication

When your own keys are used, requests are sent directly to the LLM provider (OpenAI or Anthropic). Your keys are never routed through third-party monitoring or logging services.

Secure transmission

All API key transmission between your browser and our servers, and between our servers and LLM providers, is encrypted using TLS/HTTPS. Keys are never transmitted in plain text.

Billing and credits

When a message is processed using your own API key:

No credits are deducted from your monthly allowance
You are billed directly by the LLM provider (OpenAI or Anthropic) based on their pricing

When your own key is not available for the model being used (for example, you have an OpenAI key but your chatbot uses a Claude model), messages will use platform keys and count against your credits as normal.

The credit rule follows your chatbot’s main model. In the example above (Claude chatbot, OpenAI key only), messages still count against your credits because the answer itself runs on platform keys, while the search and preparation steps run on your OpenAI key and are billed to your OpenAI account. To have everything run on your own keys, save a key for your chatbot’s model provider as well.

A Cohere key never changes what a message costs: it only moves the reranking step onto your Cohere account. Credits are decided by the key for your chatbot’s model provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google).

Frequently asked questions

Which plans support BYOK?

BYOK is available on Pro Plus and Business plans.

Do I need keys for every provider?

No. You only need a key for the provider your chatbot’s model uses. If your chatbot uses a GPT model, you only need an OpenAI key. If it uses a Claude model, you only need an Anthropic key; for a Gemini model, a Google key. A Cohere key is optional and only moves the reranking step onto your own Cohere account.

What happens if my key becomes invalid?

If your key is rejected by the provider (revoked, expired, or out of provider credit), AI Chatbot does not switch to platform keys. The steps that depend on that key stop working until you update it: if it is the key for your chatbot’s main model, messages fail; if it is your OpenAI key while your chatbot answers with a Claude or Gemini model, the chatbot keeps talking but can no longer search your knowledge base. A failing Cohere key skips the reranking step, so answers keep flowing but search quality drops. Update or remove the key to restore normal service.

Can I use different keys for different chatbots?

Yes. Add chatbot-level keys in each chatbot’s settings to override your account-level keys. This is useful if you have separate billing accounts or want to track usage per chatbot.

Where do I get an API key?

OpenAI: Create a key at platform.openai.com/api-keys
Anthropic: Create a key at console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
Google: Create a key at aistudio.google.com/apikey
Cohere: Create a key at dashboard.cohere.com/api-keys

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