BYOAIK — Bring Your Own AI Key: a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.

MetaGPT

Open-source multi-agent software company that turns a one-line requirement into code, using your own LLM key.

Website Source code

Category:
Agent Frameworks
Pricing:
Open Source
Open source:
Yes (MIT)
Self-hostable:
Yes
Local-first:
Yes
Platforms:
CLI, Self-hosted, Library/SDK, Docker
AI providers (bring your own key):
OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Custom / OpenAI-compatible, Ollama
API key storage:
Configured by environment variable
Key risk level:
LOW
Trust score:
88/100

MetaGPT assigns SOP-based roles (product manager, architect, engineer, QA) to LLM agents that collaborate to design and write software from a natural-language specification. Configuration lives in config/config2.yaml, where the user fills in an api_key value for the LLM, embedding and search sections, so the framework never proxies through a MetaGPT-owned key. Supports OpenAI, Azure and OpenAI-compatible or local endpoints. MIT licensed with nearly 70,000 stars.

Why this trust score (88/100)

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 20/20 — Requests go straight from you to the AI provider. The provider endpoint is configurable, so you can point it at the provider or your own gateway.
  • 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 5/10 — Last commit was within the last year.
  • Verification Confidence 7/10 — Key handling was found in the published source by BYOAIK's scanner.

What was checked

Verification tier: SOURCE_VERIFIED — derived from the evidence below, 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
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] The provider endpoint is configurable, so requests can be pointed straight at the provider or at your own gateway. 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 2026-01-21 — about 7 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.