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Connect your AI (BYOK)

Pyre is bring-your-own-key. It runs no AI of its own — you point it at a provider you choose, and your messages go straight from your device to that provider over HTTPS. No middle-man, no Pyre server reading over your shoulder. This is the one thing you must do before anything else works.

What you need

An API key from any OpenAI-compatible provider. That's a wide net:

  • Aggregators that resell many models behind one key (OpenRouter, for example).
  • First-party model APIs that speak the OpenAI format.
  • Community proxies (the usual URL + key).
  • A local server on your own machine or network — no key, no cost beyond the hardware you already own.

Free and cheap options exist

Several aggregators have free tiers, and a local server costs nothing to run. Pyre is free; what you spend is entirely between you and the provider you pick.

Add a provider

  1. Open More → API Connections.
  2. Add a provider and choose its kind — External, Proxy, or Localhost. It's only a UI grouping; they all speak the same protocol.
  3. Paste the provider's base URL and your API key. Pyre tidies the URL for you, so you won't end up with a stuttering /v1/v1/.
  4. Tap Browse models to pull the provider's model list, and pick one. (On a local server, the model you pick is usually loaded on demand.)
  5. Save. You're connected.

Keep as many providers configured as you like and switch the active one whenever the mood strikes. The AI Creator can even use a different, recommended model from the one you chat with.

Your key is handled carefully

Keys live in your operating system's secure store — not plaintext, and never in a casual backup unless you explicitly opt in. If a provider's error message ever leaks a token back at you, Pyre scrubs it before it hits your screen. See Your data & API keys.

Picking a model

  • For chatting, most modern instruction-tuned chat models do nicely. Reasoning models work too — Pyre hides their <think> scratchpad by default so you don't have to watch the model talk to itself.
  • For the AI Creator, the model matters more than the prompt. A capable, uncensored model (a DeepSeek-family model is a fine starting point) produces the most complete cards. In-app recommendations live under More → Character Creator.

If a provider fails or gets cold feet mid-scene and you have another configured, Pyre's smart fallback offers to retry on the next one. It never switches silently — your call, always.

See also