API keys

A key is both login and password to your balance. One key works with every model in the catalog; requests are billed from the same balance.

How to create a key

1. Log in and top up your balance — without funds, requests return error 402.
2. Open the API keys section and click Create key.
3. Copy the key right away — it's shown once. Format is a string like cai-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

How to send the key in requests

For the OpenAI-compatible API — the Authorization header:

curl

curl https://api.cheapai.io/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cai-..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "gpt-4o", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]}'

In SDKs — the same key in the api_key field together with base_url:

python

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.cheapai.io/v1", api_key="cai-...")

For Claude Code and other Anthropic-compatible clients — via environment variables:

claude code · terminal

export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.cheapai.io"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="cai-..."

Detailed client guides — Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor and others.

Where to store the key

• In an environment variable (export CHEAPAI_API_KEY=...) or in a .env file added to .gitignore.
• In CI / hosting secrets — not in code and not in a config that ends up in the repository.
• Don't ship the key to browser code — anyone on the page can read it from DevTools. Browser apps must call the API through their own backend.

Revoke and rotation

In the section a key can be revoked — after that, requests with it immediately return . Your balance is not affected: it's shared across the account, not tied to a specific key.