# Add an API key for a cloud provider

Paste the key once in Settings, AI & extensions, API keys. It goes into your operating system’s credential store, not into a file in the vault.

*https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/support/add-provider-api-key — last checked 2026-09-06*

## Steps

1. Create the key in the provider’s own dashboard. NeuralVault never creates one for you and cannot see your account there.
2. Open Settings, then AI & extensions, then API keys.
3. Pick the provider from "Add a key", paste the key, and save.
4. Open the model picker in Chat. That provider’s models are now selectable.

## How to tell it worked

The provider moves into "Your keys". Send one message on one of its models to confirm the key is accepted, not merely stored.

## If it does not work

**The key saves but every message fails.**

Stored and valid are different things. Check the key has credit or an active billing method on the provider’s side, and that it has not been scoped to a project that excludes the model you picked.

**You want to know where the key actually went.**

Into your OS credential store under the service name NeuralVault: Credential Manager on Windows, Keychain on macOS, the Secret Service on Linux. It is not written into your vault and it is not synced anywhere.

**You need to remove a key.**

Delete it from the same screen. Removing your data wholesale is a separate control, in Settings, General, Remove my data.

## Still stuck

Bug reports belong in the app, in Settings, About. Those carry no contact details, so they
get fixed rather than answered. To get a reply, email us instead: that route targets two
business days. https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/contact