Bring your own LLM keys (BYOK)
Add your Anthropic / OpenAI / Google / OpenRouter / Mistral / Groq key, route operator calls through it, bypass credit billing.
If you already pay for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Mistral, or Groq, you can route your operators' LLM calls through your own key. Two upsides:
- Bypass credits — BYOK calls are billed by your provider, not metered against Guilde credits.
- Better unit economics — at high volume, provider direct rates are usually cheaper than Guilde's resold rates.
The tradeoff is one extra key to manage and a billing relationship with the provider. BYOK works on every plan including Free.
Prerequisites
- An API key from at least one of: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Mistral, Groq
- A Guilde guild
- Admin role in the guild (or org-admin, for org-level BYOK)
Three surfaces
BYOK is wired from three places. You'll usually use just the first one.
| Surface | Scope | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Usage → BYOK | This guild | Most common. Per-guild keys |
| Org settings → Connectors | Every guild in the org | Central key for a team's guilds |
| Operators page → LLM Models | This guild | Pick which BYOK model is the guild default |
Step 1 — Get a key from your provider
Quickest path per provider:
| Provider | Where |
|---|---|
| Anthropic | console.anthropic.com → Settings → API Keys → Create Key |
| OpenAI | platform.openai.com → Settings → API keys → Create new secret key |
| Google Gemini | ai.google.dev → Get API key |
| OpenRouter | openrouter.ai → Keys → Create Key (access to 100+ models) |
| Mistral | console.mistral.ai → API Keys |
| Groq | console.groq.com → API Keys |
Copy the key. You'll paste it once into Guilde and never need it again.
Step 2 — Add the key in Usage → BYOK
Sidebar → Usage → BYOK tab.
Under LLM Provider Keys, click Add key on the provider row. The sheet asks for the API key, a label (e.g. "Personal Anthropic"), and optionally a scope. Save.
The key lands in the Secrets vault at the
slug the provider expects (anthropic-apikey, openai-apikey, …) and
the status flips to CONFIGURED.
Step 3 — Pick the guild's default model
Sidebar → Operators → scroll to LLM Models (bottom of the page).
The Default Model picker lists every model your BYOK keys unlock.
Pick one — anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6, openai/gpt-4o,
google/gemini-2.5-pro, … — and save.
Every operator inherits this default. Per-operator override on the operator's detail page.
Step 4 — Verify routing
Open a conversation with an operator. Send a short message. After the reply, the activity row in Usage shows the call billed as BYOK (not PENDING and not deducted from credits). It should also appear in your provider's billing dashboard within a few minutes.
Shared-key fallback
For non-LLM providers (Replicate for images / video / music,
ElevenLabs for TTS), the BYOK tab offers an additional toggle:
Enable shared-key fallback (pay per call). With this on, Guilde
supplies the key and debits credits at the listed millicents rate
(e.g. ~500 mC/image). Useful for occasional use where managing a
direct subscription isn't worth it.
Subscription credentials
The BYOK tab also accepts OAuth tokens for agent-CLI subscriptions
— e.g. claude-code-oauth lets the claude CLI run inside your
operators' sandboxes using your Claude.ai Pro/Max plan instead of API
credits. Same flow: click Add key, complete the OAuth.
Org-level BYOK
If you have an org, register keys under Org settings → Connectors to make them inherit across every guild in the org. Per-guild keys (in Usage → BYOK) override org-level keys when both are set.