Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

What is BYOK?

Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) lets you connect your own API keys from AI providers like OpenAI or Anthropic to power your Autoch.at assistants. Instead of using Autoch.at's shared AI infrastructure, your assistants will call the AI provider directly using your account.

Go to Settings > BYOK to configure this.

Why use BYOK?

There are a few good reasons to bring your own key:

• Cost control — Your AI usage is billed directly to your provider account, giving you full visibility and control over costs.
• Model access — Use models that aren't available in Autoch.at's standard offering, including the latest releases or fine-tuned models you've created.
• Data privacy — With some providers, using your own key means your data is processed under your own agreement with the provider, not Autoch.at's.
• Higher rate limits — If you have a high-tier account with your AI provider, you can use those higher limits rather than sharing capacity with other Autoch.at customers.

Connecting an API key

1. Go to Settings > BYOK.
2. Click Add API Key.
3. Select your AI provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic).
4. Paste your API key.
5. Give it a name so you can identify it later (e.g., "OpenAI - Production").
6. Click Save.

Autoch.at will verify the key is valid before saving it.

Assigning a key to an assistant

Once you've added a key, you can assign it to specific AI assistants:

1. Go to AI Assistant > Assistants and open the assistant you want to configure.
2. In the Model section, select Use custom API key.
3. Choose the key you added.
4. Select the specific model you want to use.
5. Save the assistant.

That assistant will now use your key and model instead of Autoch.at's default.

Monitoring usage

When using BYOK, your AI usage is tracked in your AI provider's dashboard, not in Autoch.at's usage metrics. Check your provider's dashboard for cost and usage information.