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

Msty

Free desktop AI studio where you plug in your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini or OpenRouter key, or run local models.

Website

Category:
Desktop AI Assistants
Pricing:
Free
Open source:
No
Self-hostable:
No
Local-first:
Yes
Platforms:
Desktop
AI providers (bring your own key):
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama, xAI Grok
API key storage:
Stored locally on device
Key risk level:
LOW
Trust score:
59/100

Msty is a closed-source but free desktop app for chatting with both local models (via built-in Ollama integration) and cloud models using your own API keys. Its documentation includes a dedicated 'Find API Keys' guide directing users to obtain and paste keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, xAI Grok and others, and users can route through OpenRouter with their own key. The free tier covers chat, personas, agent mode and knowledge stacks with no subscription required for bring-your-own-key usage; a paid tier unlocks extra features. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Why this trust score (59/100)

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

  • Key Safety 23/25 — The key is held on your own device.
  • Request Routing 17/20 — Requests go straight from you to the AI provider.
  • Transparency 3/20 — Closed source with no public repository — the key handling cannot be independently inspected.
  • Privacy 11/15 — Local-first: it works without sending your data anywhere.
  • Maintenance 4/10 — Maintenance activity has not been established for this listing.
  • 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, 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.

How your API key is handled

Your API key is stored locally on your device. Requests are sent directly to the AI provider.

Setup

Open settings, paste your provider API key, choose a model, and start — the key stays on your device.