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Getting API Keys

This guide walks you through obtaining API keys from each supported LLM provider.

Table of Contents

OpenAI

Website: https://platform.openai.com

Free Tier: Credits may apply (see pricing)

Steps:

  1. Go to platform.openai.com
  2. Click "Sign Up" (or "Log In" if you have an account)
  3. Navigate to API Keys in the left sidebar
  4. Click "Create new secret key"
  5. Give it a name (e.g., "LLM Playbook")
  6. Copy the key immediately (you won't see it again!)

Environment Variable:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."

Available Models:

  • gpt-4o - Latest flagship model
  • gpt-4o-mini - Fast and cheap (recommended for testing)
  • gpt-4-turbo - Previous generation
  • gpt-3.5-turbo - Fast and affordable

Pricing:

See openai.com/pricing

Anthropic

Website: https://console.anthropic.com

Free Tier: Free credits for new users (see console)

Steps:

  1. Go to console.anthropic.com
  2. Click "Sign Up" or "Log In"
  3. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
  4. Click "Create Key"
  5. Copy the key (starts with sk-ant-)

Environment Variable:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

Available Models:

  • claude-sonnet-4-20250514 - Latest Sonnet (balanced)
  • claude-opus-4-20250514 - Most capable
  • claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 - Previous Sonnet
  • claude-3-haiku-20240307 - Fast and cheap

Pricing:

See anthropic.com/pricing

Google Gemini

Website: https://aistudio.google.com

Free Tier: Generous free tier with high rate limits

Steps:

  1. Go to aistudio.google.com
  2. Sign in with your Google account
  3. Click "Get API Key" in the top right
  4. Click "Create API Key"
  5. Select a Google Cloud project (or create one)
  6. Copy the key

Environment Variable:

export GOOGLE_API_KEY="AI..."

Available Models:

  • gemini-2.0-flash - Latest fast model (recommended)
  • gemini-1.5-pro - Most capable
  • gemini-1.5-flash - Fast and efficient
  • gemini-1.5-flash-8b - Smallest/fastest

Pricing:

See ai.google.dev/pricing

Groq

Website: https://console.groq.com

Free Tier: Free tier with generous rate limits

Steps:

  1. Go to console.groq.com
  2. Click "Sign Up" with Google, GitHub, or email
  3. Navigate to API Keys in the sidebar
  4. Click "Create API Key"
  5. Copy the key (starts with gsk_)

Environment Variable:

export GROQ_API_KEY="gsk_..."

Available Models:

  • llama-3.3-70b-versatile - Latest Llama (recommended)
  • llama-3.1-70b-versatile - Previous Llama
  • llama-3.1-8b-instant - Fast small model
  • mixtral-8x7b-32768 - Mixtral MoE
  • gemma2-9b-it - Google Gemma

Why Groq?

Groq specializes in ultra-fast inference using custom LPU hardware. Response times are often 10x faster than other providers, making it ideal for real-time applications.

Pricing:

See groq.com/pricing

Ollama (Local)

Website: https://ollama.com

Free: Completely free (runs on your hardware)

Steps:

  1. Download and Install:

    • macOS: brew install ollama or download from ollama.com
    • Linux: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
    • Windows: Download installer from ollama.com

  2. Pull a model:

    ollama pull llama3.2

  3. Start using (Ollama auto-starts on install):

    # Or manually start
ollama serve

No API Key Needed!

Ollama runs entirely on your local machine. No API key, no internet, no costs.

Popular Models:

ollama pull llama3.2        # Meta's latest (3B, 8B)
ollama pull llama3.2:1b     # Smallest/fastest
ollama pull mistral         # Mistral 7B
ollama pull codellama       # Code-specialized
ollama pull phi3            # Microsoft Phi-3
ollama pull gemma2          # Google Gemma 2

Hardware Requirements:

  • Minimum: 8GB RAM for 7B models
  • Recommended: 16GB+ RAM for 13B+ models
  • GPU: Optional but significantly faster (NVIDIA, Apple Silicon)

Setting Up Your Environment

Option 1: .env File (Recommended)

Create a .env file in your project root:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your keys:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
GOOGLE_API_KEY=AI...
GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_...

Option 2: Export in Shell

Add to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or equivalent:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="AI..."
export GROQ_API_KEY="gsk_..."

Then reload:

source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Option 3: Google Colab Secrets

In Google Colab:

  1. Click the 🔑 key icon in the left sidebar
  2. Add each key as a secret
  3. Access in code: 
    from google.colab import userdata
import os

os.environ['OPENAI_API_KEY'] = userdata.get('OPENAI_API_KEY')

Security Best Practices

  1. Never commit API keys to Git

    • Use .env files (already in .gitignore)
    • Use environment variables

  2. Rotate keys regularly

    • Delete unused keys
    • Create new keys for different projects

  3. Set usage limits

    • Most providers allow setting spending limits
    • Set alerts for unusual usage

  4. Use separate keys for dev/prod

    • Easier to track usage
    • Limit blast radius if compromised