BYOAIK (Bring Your Own AI Key) is a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.
Pi
Minimal open-source AI agent toolkit and coding-agent CLI with a unified multi-provider LLM API, BYOK.
- Category:
- Developer Infrastructure
- Maintenance:
- Actively developed (last commit today)
- Pricing:
- Open Source
- Open source:
- Yes (MIT)
- Self-hostable:
- Yes
- Local-first:
- Yes
- Platforms:
- CLI, Library/SDK, Self-hosted, Docker
- AI providers (bring your own key):
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Azure OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI Grok, Ollama, Hugging Face, Together AI, Fireworks, Custom / OpenAI-compatible
- API key storage:
- Configured by environment variable
- Key risk level:
- LOW
- Trust score:
- 84/100
Pi (by earendil-works) is an MIT-licensed AI agent toolkit published as a TypeScript monorepo of npm packages: pi-ai (unified multi-provider LLM API), pi-agent-core (agent runtime/loop with tool calling), pi-tui (terminal UI library with differential rendering), and pi-coding-agent (an interactive coding-agent CLI with read/bash/edit/write tools and session management). The coding agent is installable via npm as @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent and connects to LLM providers through the unified pi-ai layer. BYOK is a first-class, free path: users supply their own provider credentials via environment variables (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, GROQ_API_KEY, MISTRAL_API_KEY, XAI_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, CEREBRAS_API_KEY, NVIDIA_API_KEY, AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY, HF_TOKEN, TOGETHER_API_KEY, FIREWORKS_API_KEY, CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY, etc.) or via a CLI --api-key flag, and pay providers directly with no payment to pi.dev. Local and custom OpenAI-compatible models (Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM) are added via a models.json file; Amazon Bedrock and Google Vertex AI are supported through AWS/GCP auth. An optional 'unified billing' hosted offering exists via Cloudflare AI Gateway, but it is fully optional and BYOK runs the tool for free. The project is very actively maintained (release v0.79.9 on 2026-06-20) and highly popular (64k+ stars, 7.8k+ forks, 100+ contributors).
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 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 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.
- [CONFIRMED · SOURCE_SCAN] Most recent commit 2026-08-15, 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.