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

LLM

CLI tool and Python library for accessing many LLMs with your own API keys

Website Source code

Category:
Developer Infrastructure
Maintenance:
Actively developed (last commit 6 days ago)
Pricing:
Open Source
Open source:
Yes (Apache-2.0)
Self-hostable:
Yes
Local-first:
Yes
Platforms:
CLI, Library/SDK, Self-hosted, Docker
AI providers (bring your own key):
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Mistral, Groq, Ollama, Custom / OpenAI-compatible
API key storage:
Configured by environment variable
Key risk level:
LOW
Trust score:
84/100

LLM is an open-source command-line tool and Python library by Simon Willison for interacting with OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Llama and dozens of other large language models. It is BYOK by design: users store their own provider API keys with commands like `llm keys set openai` or `llm keys set anthropic` (saved locally in keys.json), and an extensive plugin system (llm-anthropic, llm-gemini, llm-mistral, llm-openrouter, llm-groq, llm-ollama, and more) lets users add their own keys for additional providers or point at local/self-hosted models. OpenAI-compatible endpoints with a custom base URL are supported via an extra-openai-models.yaml config, enabling any OpenAI-API-compatible service (e.g. LocalAI, OpenRouter). It works as both a CLI and a Python SDK and supports prompts, chat, embeddings, and logging to SQLite.

Why this trust score (84/100)

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 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] Most recent commit 2026-08-12, 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.