BYOAIK (Bring Your Own AI Key) is a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.
Deep Research
Browser-based deep-research app that generates in-depth reports using any LLM, with keys stored locally in your browser.
- Category:
- Research Tools
- Maintenance:
- Maintained (last commit about 3 months ago)
- Pricing:
- Open Source
- Open source:
- Yes (MIT)
- Self-hostable:
- Yes
- Local-first:
- Yes
- Platforms:
- Web, Self-hosted, Docker
- AI providers (bring your own key):
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, OpenRouter, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI Grok, Ollama, Custom / OpenAI-compatible
- API key storage:
- User controls deployment
- Key risk level:
- LOW
- Trust score:
- 83/100
Deep Research is an open-source (MIT) Next.js 15 / Shadcn UI web app that produces comprehensive, multi-step research reports by pairing LLMs with internet search. It splits work between "Thinking" and "Task" models to balance depth and speed, typically completing a report in about two minutes. It runs in two modes: a privacy-first "local API mode" where the end user enters their own provider API key in the in-app settings panel (persisted in browser localStorage via Zustand, with direct browser-to-provider calls so keys never touch a server), and a "proxy/server mode" where keys are set via environment variables behind an access password. It supports a wide range of providers and also exposes an SSE API and an MCP server. Deployable to Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, Docker, and static hosting (GitHub Pages), with PWA support, plus a hosted demo at research.u14.app.
Why this trust score (83/100)
Trust measures how the tool treats your API key and how much of that has been verified. It contains no popularity signal.
- Key Safety 21/25: The key lives in a deployment you run yourself.
- Request Routing 17/20: Requests go straight from you to the AI provider.
- Transparency 20/20: Source is public under MIT, so anyone can check how the key is handled.
- Privacy 14/15: Local-first: it works without sending your data anywhere. Can be self-hosted, so the data path stays inside infrastructure you control.
- Maintenance 10/10: Actively developed: commits within the last three months.
- Verification Confidence 1/10: Compiled from public documentation by an AI-assisted pass, not independently confirmed.
What was checked
Verification tier RESEARCH_ASSISTED, derived from the evidence below and not set by hand.
- [REPORTED · RESEARCH] This listing was compiled by an AI-assisted research pass over the tool's public website, README and documentation. No person independently confirmed it.
- [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] Supports a local model backend, so it can run with no cloud provider key at all. source
- [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Ships a container definition, so it can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure. source
- [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Most recent commit 2026-06-18, about 2 month(s) ago. source
How your API key is handled
You self-host the app, so your API key lives in your own deployment. Requests are sent directly to the AI provider. Because it can be self-hosted, your key never has to touch a third-party backend.
Setup
Deploy it (Docker/compose), add your provider API key in the admin or environment config, then select models.