You need an API key from either Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (GPT). Pick one below.
Create a free account at console.anthropic.com if you don't have one. You'll need an email address.
Go to Settings > Billing and add a payment method. You only pay for what you use — most bots cost pennies per conversation.
Go to Settings > API Keys and click "Create Key". Give it a name like "NormieClaw". Copy the key — it starts with sk-ant-.
That's your API key. Paste it into the API Key field when deploying your agent. We encrypt it immediately with AES-256.
Create an account at platform.openai.com. This is separate from ChatGPT — it's the developer platform.
Go to Settings > Billing and add a payment method. Like Anthropic, you only pay for actual usage.
Go to API Keys and click "Create new secret key". Give it a name. Copy the key — it starts with sk-proj-.
Paste it into the API Key field when deploying. Encrypted on arrival, never stored in plain text.
You only pay for what your bot actually uses. Here's a rough guide:
For reference, 1M tokens is roughly 750,000 words — most casual bots cost under $1/month in API usage.