Enduragent

Model access

Use an API key

Enduragent ships without a model. An API key is how you bring your own: a token you create in a provider's console, billed by what you use rather than by the month. Nine providers work.

What an API key is

A long secret string that identifies your account to a model provider. Anything sent with it is charged to you, which is why it is handled like a password: created in a console, pasted once, revocable at any time.

Billing is per token, roughly three-quarters of a word, counted going in and coming out. There is no monthly minimum and nothing to cancel. A month you do not use Enduragent is a month you do not pay for.

Choose a key if you have no paid ChatGPT plan, or you want a particular model, or you want to run a cheap one. Choose the ChatGPT sign-in if you already pay for a plan — bearing in mind that that lane is experimental.

The nine providers

ProviderConsoleNotes
Anthropicconsole.anthropic.comClaude models.
OpenAIplatform.openai.comGPT models. Separate from a ChatGPT subscription — a plan does not give you a key.
Googleaistudio.google.comGemini models.
OpenRouteropenrouter.aiOne key, many models, including every vendor in this table.
DeepSeekplatform.deepseek.comDeepSeek models.
QwenAlibaba Cloud Model StudioQwen models.
MiniMaxplatform.minimaxi.comMiniMax models.
Kimiplatform.moonshot.aiMoonshot AI. Long-context models.
Z.AIz.aiGLM models.
Not sure which? Start with OpenRouter. One key reaches models from every vendor in this table, so you can change model in Enduragent's settings without opening another account.

Four steps

  1. Create an account with the provider Use the console link above. This is a developer account, separate from any consumer chat product the same company sells.
  2. Add billing before you create the key Most providers need a card or prepaid credit before a key will work. Doing it first avoids the common failure: a key that looks valid and then fails on the first message with a quota or billing error.
  3. Create the key Look for API keys in the console. Create one, name it something you will recognise later — enduragent — and copy it straight away. Most providers show the full key once. If you lose it, delete it and make another.
  4. Paste it into Enduragent In the Mac app, choose the API key lane in setup, pick the provider, and paste. For the command-line version, set LLM_PROVIDER and LLM_API_KEY in your environment or config file.

What it costs

You pay the provider directly, at their published rate. Enduragent is free and MIT licensed, adds nothing to the bill and takes no cut. Cheap models cost very little per conversation. Frontier models cost more and reason better over a long, messy training history.

Enduragent keeps a local spend meter and lets you set a daily cap. Treat both as an estimate rather than a billing control — the meter is Enduragent's own arithmetic, not your provider's invoice. Set a hard spending limit in the provider console as well. It is worth doing on day one.

Keeping the key safe

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