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

parrot.nvim

Provider-agnostic Neovim chat and rewriting, with keys read from commands rather than config files.

Website Source code

Category:
IDE Plugins
Maintenance:
Maintained (last commit about 1 month ago)
Pricing:
Open Source
Open source:
Yes (MIT)
Self-hostable:
No
Local-first:
No
Platforms:
CLI, Local-only
AI providers (bring your own key):
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama, Custom / OpenAI-compatible
API key storage:
Configured by environment variable
Key risk level:
LOW
Trust score:
83/100

parrot.nvim brings chat, rewriting and code actions into Neovim across Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, Ollama and OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Its useful detail for key handling is that an API key can be supplied by a shell command rather than a literal string, so the secret can live in a password manager or keychain instead of a dotfile that gets committed by accident. MIT, established by reading the LICENSE because GitHub reports the repository as unlicensed.

How this tool was scored

Key handling 77/100 (where your key rests and who sees it, comparable across any licence) and verifiability 90/100 (how much of that BYOAIK could confirm, lower for closed source). Neither contains a 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 MIT, so anyone can check how the key is handled. Key handling was located in the published source.
  • Privacy 7/15: Nothing specific is known about its data handling beyond the key itself.
  • Maintenance 10/10: Actively developed, with commits within the last three months.
  • 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 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] The user supplies their own OpenAI key: the project references its API key variable. source
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] The user supplies their own Anthropic key: the project references its API key variable. source
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] The user supplies their own Google Gemini key: the project references its API key variable. source
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] The user supplies their own xAI Grok key: the project references its API key variable. source
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] The user supplies their own Perplexity key: the project references its API key variable. source
  • [STRONG · SOURCE_SCAN] Reads the API key from an environment variable at runtime. 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 2026-08-24, about 1 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.

Setup

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