# Set up Trix with your own AI key

> Connect Anthropic, OpenAI or another provider, choose models, and see exactly what data is sent to the provider.

Trix, the AI agent, runs on your own AI provider account. You add an API key, the provider bills you for the tokens, and asktrix charges nothing extra for AI. Trix is part of the Start plan and up.

## Add a provider

1.  Go to **Settings → Trix → AI & providers** and click **Add provider**.
2.  Pick a type:
    -   **Official API**: Anthropic or OpenAI.
    -   **Popular providers**: OpenRouter, Google Gemini, Mistral AI, Groq, DeepSeek, xAI Grok, Azure OpenAI, Together AI, Fireworks AI, Cerebras, Hugging Face, Vercel AI Gateway, Alibaba Qwen and Cohere. Base URL and models are filled in for you.
    -   **Custom endpoint / proxy**: any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible API, for example LiteLLM.
3.  Paste your API key. **Get an API key** next to the field links to the provider's key page.
4.  Check the models. The first one in the list is the default.
5.  Click **Test connection**.

Only owners and admins can add providers and keys. Keys are stored encrypted and never shown again, only a masked hint.

For Azure OpenAI, replace `<resource>` in the base URL with the name of your Azure resource and enter your deployment names instead of model names.

## Models per task

Under **Models per task** you choose which model handles what:

| Task | Used for |
| --- | --- |
| AI agent | Trix's answers in the widget, and the playground |
| Writing help | Reply suggestions, rephrasing and summaries in the inbox |
| Translation | Live translation in the inbox |
| Embeddings | Vector search over your knowledge. Needs an OpenAI-compatible provider. Without it, Trix uses full-text search. |

**Automatic** uses your providers in priority order with their default model.

## Several keys and providers

You can add more than one key per provider. Requests are spread across the keys. If a key hits a rate limit or fails, the next key takes over, then the next provider. Use the arrows to set the provider order.

On Start and Team you can store one key. Business allows several keys for failover.

## What is sent to your provider

asktrix sends only what the task needs, and only to the provider you configured. Nothing is sent to other AI services.

**When Trix answers a visitor:**

-   the last 16 messages of the conversation (visitor, teammates and Trix). Internal notes are not included.
-   the passages from your knowledge that match the question: published help center articles and, on Team and up, your other sources (crawled website pages, uploaded files, snippets, accepted learning notes).
-   your workspace name, the business description and the instructions from **Trix → Behavior**.

The contact's name, email and other profile fields are not part of Trix's prompt.

**Other tasks:**

| Task | What is sent |
| --- | --- |
| Writing help and summaries | The last 30 messages of the conversation, including internal notes, the visitor's name and the names of teammates |
| Translation | The single message being translated |
| Embeddings | The text of your articles and sources, in small pieces, when they're indexed |
| Learning notes (Team and up) | A resolved conversation that Trix had handed over, so Trix can draft a reusable question and answer |
| Business description | Text from your crawled website or sources, when you let Trix write the description |

What your provider does with the data is governed by your contract with them. Check their data retention and training settings, especially with free tiers.

## Limits

To protect your budget, Trix counts its answers over 24 hours. By default a single visitor gets up to 20 AI answers, an IP address up to 40, and the whole workspace up to 2,000. A visitor over the limit is handed to your team. When the workspace limit is reached, every new chat goes to your team and owners and admins are notified.

Every AI message in the widget carries an **AI** badge next to the name (**KI** in German, **IA** in French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese). You can rename your agent and change the widget texts, but not the badge, so visitors always know they're talking to an AI.

## Trix doesn't answer

-   **No provider or no key.** Check **Settings → Trix → AI & providers**. A key with status **Invalid** or **Rate limited** needs attention. **Reset status** clears it after you've fixed it at the provider.
-   **Test the connection.** **Test connection** shows the response time and the model, or the error the provider returned.
-   **Plan.** Trix is not part of Free.
-   **Watch the log.** **Trix → Log** lists every AI run with its outcome.

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Source: https://localhost:3100/help/en/trix-with-your-own-ai-key