Administrator guide
Add your API keys
Add API keys in Server admin after installation, or supply them in a private file during deployment.
Your API keys connect OpenCircle to the services your Familiars use. Keep them in a password manager and set spending limits with each provider — a chat-app subscription is not necessarily an API account with credit.
Looking for Gmail, Drive, Docs, or Sheets access instead? Follow Google Workspace setup; that connection uses Google sign-in, not an API key on this page.
Add or change keys after setup
- Sign in to your Server as an Owner or Admin.
- Open the Server Guide and choose API Keys, or open Server admin → API Keys directly.
- Find the service, choose Get a key if you still need one, then Add key.
- Paste the key into the password field and save that row.
- Choose Validate all — Set means the key is stored, Verified means the provider check succeeded.
- Try the feature: send a message, play a voice reply, run a search, or convert a document.
Never include a key in a support screenshot. Close the input first and capture only the provider name and status — OpenCircle does not show a saved key again.
Which keys should I get?
The bare minimum to try model-backed features is one key: Venice, OpenRouter, or OpenAI. Each provides routes for chat, embeddings, and image generation, so you do not need all three. The recommended set for every documented function is five keys: Venice, ElevenLabs, Tavily, Browser Use, and CloudConvert.
Functionality and provider options
| Functionality | Supported providers |
|---|---|
| Chat | Venice, OpenRouter, OpenAI, Google, Fireworks, OpenAI-compatible gateway |
| Embeddings | Venice, OpenRouter, OpenAI |
| Text-to-speech | ElevenLabs |
| Speech-to-text | ElevenLabs, Groq |
| Image generation | Venice, OpenRouter, OpenAI, Google |
| Music generation | Venice |
| Video generation | Venice |
| Web search | Tavily |
| Browser use | Browser Use |
| Document conversion | CloudConvert |
Restrict an ElevenLabs key
ElevenLabs creates restricted keys by default. Keep Restrict Key enabled and grant only Models: Read, Voices: Read, Text to Speech, and Speech to Text — OpenCircle does not need voice-write or model-write access. Skip Speech to Text if you plan to use Groq for that function instead.
Choose the models used by your Server
After saving keys, open Server admin → Models to choose the embeddings model and the image, music, and video defaults. Automatic mode prefers Venice, then OpenRouter, then OpenAI for most functions, and stays selected on an explicit choice rather than silently switching providers if a key becomes unavailable.
Fill in a setup file
Local or Docker Compose
Use the downloadable local setup template only for the automated deploy path — for manual browser claim, skip the file and add keys afterward. Move it to a private, restricted folder before editing:
Terminal
install -d -m 700 "$HOME/.config/opencircle" install -m 600 "$HOME/Downloads/deploy.toml" "$HOME/.config/opencircle/deploy.toml"
Replace the owner handle, display name, password, and PIN placeholders with your own values, then replace each <your-provider-key> placeholder with that service's real key. Delete the block for any provider you do not want, and never leave an enabled value blank or unchanged.
Railway
Download the Railway provider template, install it privately the same way, fill in the enabled provider lines, and pass it to the adoption command with --provider-config. This file holds service keys only — create the owner password and PIN in the browser during Railway setup, and never upload the file into the Railway dashboard.