Connecting your AI key to Memrith
Memrith uses your own AI provider so your conversations stay between you and the provider you trust — and so you pay only for what you actually use. This walkthrough covers what an API key is, how to get one for the major providers, and what it actually costs.
An API key is a string of text that lets Memrith talk to your AI provider on your behalf. You'll create one on the provider's website, copy it, paste it into Memrith. Memrith never sees the key — it's stored in your Mac's Keychain locally.
Typical cost is $1–8 per month for personal use. You can set a hard spending cap with your provider so you can never be surprised.
If you've never done this before, start with Anthropic — it's the simplest signup and works great with Memrith.
What's an API key, in plain English?
Think of an API key like a hotel keycard for the AI service. When Memrith asks
Claude or GPT to summarize your week, it has to swipe the keycard so the provider
knows the request is yours and bills it to your account. The keycard is a long
string that looks something like sk-ant-api03-XmK9….
You make the keycard once on your provider's website. You paste it into Memrith once. From then on, Memrith uses it silently in the background whenever you chat. Your conversations and notes never pass through Memrith's servers — they go directly from your laptop to the provider you chose.
Why not just include AI in the price? Because then Memrith would have to mark up the cost, store your conversations to measure usage, and lock you to one provider. Bring-your-own-key keeps Memrith honest, your data private, and your bill exactly what your usage was — no Memrith middleman.
The bigger reason: BYOK keeps your memory portable. Switch from Claude to GPT to OpenRouter to a local model running on your own machine — your accumulated context comes with you. The provider is replaceable infrastructure; the continuity layer is yours. Read the long version →
What will it cost me?
AI usage is billed per word (technically, per token). For typical Memrith use — a few chats a day, occasional document uploads, daily journal reflections — most people land in this range:
Set a spend cap before you connect. Every provider lets you set a monthly hard limit — once you hit it, they stop accepting requests for the rest of the month. We recommend $10/month as a comfortable starter cap. Instructions for each provider are in the walkthroughs below.
Step-by-step for your provider
Pick the provider you'd like to use. You only need one.
Anthropic (Claude) — recommended for first-timers
Anthropic makes Claude. Their signup is the simplest of the three and the free starter credit usually covers a couple weeks of normal Memrith use.
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Create an account
Go to console.anthropic.com. Sign up with your email or Google. Verify your email when prompted.
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Add a small amount of credit (or use the free starter credit)
New accounts get a few dollars of free credit to start. To add more, go to Settings → Billing → Add credit. $5 is plenty to start with — it's not a subscription, it's pay-as-you-go from a prepaid balance.
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Set a monthly spending limit (recommended)
Still in Settings → Billing, click Spend limits and set the monthly maximum to whatever you're comfortable with — $10/month is a reasonable starting cap. Anthropic stops processing requests once you hit it, so you can never be surprised.
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Create an API key
Go to Settings → API keys and click Create Key. Give it a name like "Memrith" so you can identify it later. Click Create Key again.
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Copy the key — you'll only see it once
The key will start with
sk-ant-api03-…. Click the Copy button. Anthropic only shows it this one time — if you lose it, you create a new one (your old key keeps working until you delete it). -
Paste into Memrith
Switch to Memrith, paste the key into the AI provider field, click Save & continue. Memrith verifies the key works, then you're done.
OpenAI (ChatGPT models)
OpenAI makes the GPT-4o family. The API account is separate from a ChatGPT Plus subscription — even if you pay for ChatGPT, you still create a new API account here.
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Create a developer account
Go to platform.openai.com. If you already have a ChatGPT login it works here — just sign in. You may need to set up an Organization the first time; the default is fine.
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Add a payment method and a starter balance
OpenAI no longer gives free trial credit. Go to Settings → Billing → Payment methods, add a card, then go to Settings → Billing → Add to credit balance and add at least $5. This is a prepaid balance, not a subscription.
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Set monthly usage limits (strongly recommended)
Go to Settings → Limits. Set Monthly budget to your cap (e.g. $10), and Email notification to a lower number (e.g. $5) so you get a warning before the hard limit kicks in.
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Create an API key
Go to platform.openai.com/api-keys and click + Create new secret key. Name it "Memrith". Leave the permissions as All (or Restricted → Read+Write for model + responses if you want minimum scope). Click Create secret key.
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Copy the key immediately
It will start with
sk-proj-…orsk-…. Click Copy. OpenAI shows this key exactly once. -
Paste into Memrith
Pick OpenAI as your provider in Memrith, paste the key, click Save & continue.
OpenRouter (one key, any model)
OpenRouter is a router: one account, one key, but you can switch between Claude, GPT, Llama, Gemini, Mistral, and dozens of others. Good if you like to experiment with models. The trade-off is a small markup on top of provider pricing.
If you want to try a model that isn't in Memrith's three direct providers, OpenRouter is the bridge — and your memory carries across every switch.
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Sign in with Google or GitHub
Go to openrouter.ai. The fastest signup is "Continue with Google" or "Continue with GitHub" — no separate password needed.
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Add credit to your account
Go to Credits in the left sidebar and click Add Credits. $5–$10 to start. OpenRouter takes a small percentage as their fee; the rest is your actual model usage.
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(Optional) Set a per-key spend limit
When you create the key in the next step, you can set a maximum credit limit on that specific key. This is OpenRouter's spend cap.
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Create an API key
Go to openrouter.ai/keys, click Create Key. Name it "Memrith". Optionally set the credit limit. Click Create.
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Copy the key
It will start with
sk-or-…. Copy it now — OpenRouter shows it once. -
Paste into Memrith
Pick OpenRouter as your provider in Memrith, paste the key, click Save & continue. You can pick which specific model to use from Memrith's Settings > AI Provider section after setup.
Local models (Ollama, llama.cpp, LM Studio) — no API key needed
Since v1.3.0, Memrith can connect to a model running on your own machine through a local OpenAI-compatible server — Ollama, llama.cpp, or LM Studio. You install and run the server yourself; Memrith connects to it. Inference is free, and most local servers don't require an API key at all. Set it up in Settings → AI Provider → Local, or pick Local during first-run setup, then enter your server's address and model name. Common defaults: Ollama on port 11434, LM Studio on 1234, llama.cpp on 8080.
What this means for this page: if you go local, you can skip the key entirely — everything above about provider accounts, billing, and spend caps applies only to the cloud providers. And the choice isn't permanent: switch between local and Anthropic, OpenAI, or OpenRouter any time in Settings, and your memory carries across unchanged.
Troubleshooting
Memrith says my key is invalid, but I copied it correctly
Three things to check, in order:
- Whitespace. Sometimes copying picks up a trailing newline or space. Re-copy the key — Memrith trims whitespace, but make sure no characters were missed.
- Account has billing/credit. The key is valid the moment you create it, but the request will fail if your account has no payment method or balance. Add at least $5 to your provider account.
- Right provider selected. A key starting with
sk-ant-…only works with the Anthropic tab.sk-or-…is OpenRouter.sk-proj-…orsk-…(without theantoror) is OpenAI.
"Insufficient credit" or "You exceeded your quota"
Your account balance is empty or your monthly cap is hit. Go back to the provider's billing page and add more credit (Anthropic) or raise your monthly limit (OpenAI).
If you set a spend cap, this is the cap working as intended — it stopped you from being surprised by a bigger bill.
My OpenAI free trial credits ran out
OpenAI's free trial credits expire after a few months or after a specific dollar amount, whichever comes first. Once they're gone you need to add a paid balance — go to Settings → Billing and add $5–10.
Will my AI provider see my journal entries?
Only the specific text Memrith sends as part of a request. Your provider's privacy policy governs what they do with it; Anthropic, OpenAI, and OpenRouter all promise not to train on API requests by default.
Your journal entries, uploaded documents, and memory data sit on your Mac. None of it is sent in the background: Memrith only contacts your AI provider when you act — when you chat or invoke a feature that needs the AI, like generating a summary. The one thing that does run in the background is a periodic app-update and license check, and it carries nothing about you or your data.
I want to switch providers later
Open Memrith's Settings → AI Provider, pick a different provider, paste its key, save. Your entries and memory don't change — only the AI that reads them does.
What if I don't want to set up an API key at all?
Memrith's AI chat features (asking Claude about your past, summaries, daily reflections) require a provider key.
If you'd rather not connect one, we'd recommend Anthropic with a $5 starter balance and a $10/month cap — it's a one-time 5-minute setup and gives you the full experience for what amounts to a coffee or two per month.
We're considering a future paid tier where Memrith provides the AI directly. Email us at support@memrith.com if that's something you'd want.
How do I delete the key from Memrith?
Open Memrith → Settings → AI Provider → click the trash icon next to the saved key. This removes it from your Mac's Keychain. The key still exists at the provider side — to permanently revoke it, go to the provider's dashboard and delete it there too.
Still stuck? Email support@memrith.com and we'll walk through it with you.