BYOAIK (Bring Your Own AI Key) is a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.

Headroom

Local proxy that compresses context before it reaches the model, holding your key on your own machine.

Website Source code

Category:
Developer Infrastructure
Maintenance:
Actively developed (last commit today)
Pricing:
Open Source
Open source:
Yes (Apache-2.0)
Self-hostable:
Yes
Local-first:
No
Platforms:
CLI, Self-hosted, Local-only, Docker
AI providers (bring your own key):
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, OpenRouter, Custom / OpenAI-compatible, Ollama
API key storage:
Configured by environment variable
Key risk level:
LOW
Trust score:
80/100

Headroom sits between your agent and the model, compressing tool output, logs, files and RAG chunks so fewer tokens are spent for the same answer. It runs as a local proxy (headroom proxy --port 8787), a Python library, or an MCP server, and needs no code changes: you point the agent at localhost and it forwards upstream with the credential you supply. Backends include OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Vertex AI, OpenRouter and LiteLLM. Worth being clear about what a compression proxy is: it necessarily reads your prompts in the clear and holds the upstream token while forwarding. The difference here is where that happens, which is your own machine rather than a vendor's, and savings reporting is a local CLI rather than a dashboard it uploads to. Apache-2.0.

Why this trust score (80/100)

Trust measures how the tool treats your API key and how much of that has been verified. It contains no popularity signal.

  • Key Safety 22/25: The key is supplied by an environment variable or local config file you control.
  • Request Routing 17/20: Requests go straight from you to the AI provider.
  • Transparency 20/20: Source is public under Apache-2.0, so anyone can check how the key is handled.
  • Privacy 10/15: Can be self-hosted, so the data path stays inside infrastructure you control.
  • Maintenance 10/10: Actively developed, with 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.
  • [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Ships a container definition, so it can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure. source
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] Supports a local model backend, so it can run with no cloud provider key at all. source
  • [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Most recent commit 2026-08-25, about 0 month(s) ago. source

How your API key is handled

Your API key is supplied via an environment variable or local config file. 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

Install the tool, set your provider API key as an environment variable (or in its config file), and pick a model.