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How API keys work
What an API key is, why your agent needs one, who you pay, and where the key is kept.
This guide is also in Archie: press Resources in the sidebar, then Guides. Where a step says this computer, it means the computer running Archie.
On this page
What an API key is#
Your agent sends what you say to an AI company, which sends the answer back. The API key tells that company which account to bill. Anyone who has it can spend from that account, so keep it in a password manager and never paste it into a chat or email.
Keys start with sk-ant- (Anthropic), sk- (OpenAI), AIza (Google), gsk_ (Groq) or xai- (xAI).
Why Archie needs one#
Once you connect a key, your agent talks to the AI company straight from this computer, on your account, with your key, and no server of ours is in the path. Before that, on the free credits, Archie thinks on our account, so those messages do pass through our server on the way to the AI company.
Who you pay#
You make the key on the AI company’s website in about ten minutes: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, xAI, DeepSeek, Mistral, or one you name. There is no Otian key. Replies are billed to your account there, at its prices, and we never handle that money or take a cut.
With Archie’s starting credits, you need no AI account at first. When you connect one, expect to add a card and a small prepaid balance. Groq’s free tier is too small for even one message.
Where the key lives#
Archie checks a pasted key with the AI company, then hands it to your computer’s own password vault: the Keychain on a Mac, Credential Manager on Windows. It isn’t written into a file, and Archie’s own records keep only a label and the last four characters.
Subscriptions don’t include a key#
Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus, SuperGrok and X Premium don’t include an API key, and paying for one doesn’t fund the other.
| A subscription | An API key | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | A flat fee every month | Only for what you use |
| Where you use it | Their own website or app | In Archie, on your computer |
| Works in Archie | no | yes |
If someone else may have seen your key, delete it on the company’s site and make a new one.
A step that no longer matches your screen? The other company may have changed its site since we last checked. Tell us which step and we will fix the guide in Archie and here.