Use Your Own API Key

With the Self-Managed license (bring your own key, or BYOK), NameQuick uses your own AI provider account instead of managed credits. You pay the provider directly for what you use — typically a fraction of a cent per rename — and pay for NameQuick once. Your key is stored securely in the macOS Keychain and never leaves your Mac except to talk to the provider you chose.

Prefer to skip API keys entirely? Use a local model on your Mac instead — no account, no key, nothing leaves your machine.

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Add a key to NameQuick#

The steps are the same for every cloud provider:

1. Open NameQuick → Settings → AI.
2. Select the provider you want to use.
3. Paste your API key into the key field. NameQuick stores it in the macOS Keychain.
4. Pick a model (each provider shows a sensible default), then run a rename on a test file to confirm everything works.

Once a provider is connected, all renaming stays on that provider — NameQuick never silently switches to a different one.

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Where to get each key#

OpenAI#

1. Sign in at platform.openai.com/api-keys.
2. Click Create new secret key, give it a name like "NameQuick", and copy it — OpenAI shows the key only once.
3. Add a small amount of credit under Billing if your account has none. A few dollars covers thousands of renames.

Note: an OpenAI API account is separate from ChatGPT Plus. A ChatGPT subscription does not include API credit.

Anthropic (Claude)#

1. Sign in at console.anthropic.com/settings/keys.
2. Click Create Key, copy it, and add billing credit under Plans & Billing if needed.

Google Gemini#

1. Sign in at aistudio.google.com with a Google account.
2. Click Create API key and copy it. Gemini has a generous free tier, which makes it a good first provider to try.

OpenRouter#

1. Sign in at openrouter.ai/keys.
2. Click Create Key, copy it, and add credit to your OpenRouter balance.

OpenRouter is one key for many models — useful if you want to experiment with different models without creating accounts at each provider.

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What renaming costs with your own key#

A rename sends a small amount of extracted text (or image data for photos and scans) to the provider and gets a short filename back. Exact prices change, but with current mainstream models a typical document rename costs well under one cent, and even image-heavy batches stay inexpensive. Check your provider's dashboard after a first batch — you'll usually find the numbers reassuringly small.

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Privacy notes#

• Keys are stored in the macOS Keychain, not in NameQuick's settings files.
• Only extracted text (or the image, for visual analysis) is sent to the provider you selected. Files themselves are never uploaded to NameQuick's servers.
• For zero-cloud processing, see local models.

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Common issues#

"Add your API key in Settings → AI" — the selected provider has no key yet, or the key was removed. Paste a valid key and try again.

Renames fail right after adding a key — most often the provider account has no billing credit. Check the provider's billing page; keys work only when the account can be charged.

Rate limit errors on big batches — new provider accounts often have low rate limits that increase automatically after a few days of use. Process a smaller batch, or wait and retry.

For everything else, see Troubleshooting.