The short version
- Make a standard API key on the OpenAI Platform's API keys page, with an expiration date, as OpenAI recommends.
- Add credits on Billing, then turn on a hard spend limit on Limits, so the month stops where you chose.
- In Runner, an owner or admin pastes it under Settings, then LLM providers, presses Test, then Connect.
- Rather skip all of it? With AI included there is nothing to set up, and you can change your choice later.
Sign in to the OpenAI Platform, and add credits
Keys for OpenAI's models live on the OpenAI Platform, OpenAI's dashboard for its API, at platform.openai.com. Your organization pays for what its keys use from credits it buys there in advance.
Sign in
Go to platform.openai.com and sign in to the dashboard.
Add credits
Open Billing, at platform.openai.com/settings/organization/billing, and add credits.
When the credits run out
OpenAI refuses requests once the organization's prepaid credits are used up, and they resume when you add more on Billing.
Create a key, with an end date
The kind of key OpenAI makes for an application like Runner is a standard API key, made on the API keys page.
Open API keys
Open API keys, at platform.openai.com/settings/organization/api-keys.
Create the key, with an expiration date
Create a new key. OpenAI strongly recommends setting an expiration date when you do, so the key stops on a date you chose.
Keep a copy somewhere safe
Copy the key and store it in a secure location, such as a password manager, never in a document or a message.
Before the date comes
Make a replacement before the key expires, move Runner to it, then revoke the old one. The last section below shows how.
Set a hard spend limit at OpenAI
A spend limit caps your organization's spend for the month. Making it a hard limit is what stops requests when spend reaches it.
Open Limits
Open your organization's Limits page, at platform.openai.com/settings/organization/limits.
Edit the spend limit
Under Spend, select Edit spend limit and enter a Monthly spend limit.
Make it hard, and save
Turn on Enforce a hard limit, so responses stop at the limit, then select Save.
Alerts, and how exact the limit is
Spend alerts on the same page tell you when spend passes an amount, but an alert stops nothing; the hard limit does. OpenAI applies it as spend is recorded, so the month can end slightly over. It resets with the next monthly cycle, or sooner if you raise or remove it.
Paste the key into Runner, under Settings, then LLM providers
The key belongs to your Runner organization, so every product in it can use the key, and only an owner or admin can connect one. Runner encrypts it before storing it and never shows it again.
A key you connect is used before credits, even on AI included.
Open LLM providers
In Runner, open Settings, then LLM providers, under What the AI uses.
Find the OpenAI card
If it's folded under More providers, open it. Paste the key into OpenAI API key.
Press Test, then Connect
Test asks OpenAI whether it accepts the key, without using any credit. When it says OpenAI accepted it, press Connect.
Keep the key secret
In OpenAI's words, your API key is a secret: don't share it with others. Anyone else who needs access gets a key of their own.
- Keep it out of code, files and public repositories, and store it in a secure location instead.
- Never put it in anything a browser or an app downloads.
- Revoking a key takes effect within a few seconds, so a key you think has leaked can be stopped at once.
- Paste it only into Runner's key box, never into a chat, an email or a support ticket.
Swap the key for a new one, or switch it off
OpenAI's advice is a regular rotation: create a replacement, move to it, and revoke the old key once the replacement works.
Make the replacement
On API keys, create a new key with its own expiration date.
Swap it in Runner
On the OpenAI card in LLM providers, press Disconnect, then Confirm disconnect, and paste the new key, Test it and Connect. Disconnecting stops your team using the old key at once.
Revoke the old key
Once Runner is connected with the new key, revoke the old one on API keys. OpenAI says a revocation takes effect within a few seconds.
Rather not make a key at all?
With AI included, your team runs on the AI credits your plan includes, with nothing to set up: no API keys, no vendor accounts, no billing with an AI company.
Every plan comes two ways, AI included or your own key, and you can change your choice later in Settings.
AI included or your own key: help me chooseGive your business a growth team.
Create your account and pick a plan. Your team is built once the plan is paid.