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Get your OpenAI API key

This is the regular key an app's connect box asks for. It starts with sk-proj-. It stays on your device and the app talks to OpenAI directly with it, billed to your own account.

Heads up: this is your API account, not ChatGPT. An OpenAI API account lives at platform.openai.com and has its own balance, separate from a ChatGPT subscription. The key only works once that balance has credit, so add a few dollars under Billing if your account is new.

Steps

A

Sign in to the OpenAI platform

Go to platform.openai.com and sign in, creating the account if you don't have one.

B

Open the API keys page

Go straight to platform.openai.com/api-keys, or click API Keys in the sidebar.

The OpenAI API keys page with the sidebar entry and the Create new secret key button marked
1  API Keys in the sidebar.  2  Create new secret key, top right.
C

Create the key

Click Create new secret key. Name it after the app you're connecting, keep Project on Default project and Permissions on All, then click Create secret key.

The Create new secret key dialog with the Name field, Project menu and Create secret key button marked
1  Name  ·  2  Project  ·  3  Create secret key
D

Copy the key and paste it into the app

Copy the sk-proj-... key right away. OpenAI shows it only once. If you lose it, delete it there and make a new one. Paste it into the app's connect box. To cut the app off later, delete that key on the same OpenAI page.

If a key starts with sk-admin-, stop. That is an admin key. It controls your whole organization and no app should ever see it. Apps take sk-proj- keys; the admin key is only for connecting your account to Outlet.

Learn more

OpenAI's official quickstart: platform.openai.com/docs/quickstart.