Your Keys, Your Models, Your Data
FlowManner supports every major LLM provider. Generate an API key from your provider, paste it into Settings, and start building workflows in under five minutes.
What You'll Learn
- Generate and securely store an API key from your LLM provider
- Configure multiple providers simultaneously in FlowManner
- Test your connection and verify data sovereignty
- Switch between providers for different agents in the same workflow
Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) lets you connect your existing LLM provider accounts directly to FlowManner. Your data stays between you and your model provider — we never store or train on your conversations.
Prerequisites
- An account with at least one LLM provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.)
- A FlowManner account (free tier works)
- Access to your provider's API key dashboard
Why BYOK Matters
With BYOK, missions run on your own provider API keys instead of platform credits. FlowManner acts as the orchestration layer — routing tasks, chaining agents, and managing workflow state — and relays each request to your chosen provider over an encrypted connection, on your behalf. Your keys are encrypted at rest, your prompts and completions are never used for model training, and you keep the freedom to switch models at any time.
# FlowManner BYOK configuration (Settings panel)
providers:
openai:
api_key: sk-... # From platform.openai.com/api-keys
default_model: gpt-4o
anthropic:
api_key: sk-ant-... # From console.anthropic.com
default_model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514
deepseek:
api_key: sk-... # From platform.deepseek.com
default_model: deepseek-chat
base_url: https://api.deepseek.com/v1
# Agents can override the default provider:
agents:
- name: "Research Agent"
provider: openai # Uses OpenAI for this agent
- name: "Writing Agent"
provider: anthropic # Uses Anthropic for this agent
Supported Providers
FlowManner works with OpenAI (GPT-4o, o3), Anthropic (Claude 4 Sonnet, Claude 4 Opus), DeepSeek, Google Gemini, Mistral, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint including local models via Ollama or LM Studio. You can mix providers across different agents in the same workflow. Note that some strict gateways require fully-qualified model IDs in type/model form (for example deepseek-chat/deepseek-v4-flash) — bare model names can be rejected with an unknown-model error. If a call fails that way, use the qualified ID from your provider's model list.
How Key Storage Works
FlowManner encrypts every API key at rest using AES-256. Keys are decrypted only at the moment a request is made to the provider — they are never logged, cached in plaintext, or transmitted to any service other than the provider endpoint you configured. The encryption key itself is derived from your account credentials and never stored on disk.
Provider-Specific Notes
OpenAI keys start with "sk-" and work immediately. Anthropic keys start with "sk-ant-" and may require enabling the Messages API in your console. Google Gemini uses OAuth or API key auth — the Settings panel supports both. For local models, enter any OpenAI-compatible base URL (e.g., http://localhost:11434/v1 for Ollama) and a placeholder key.
Rotate keys regularly
Generate new API keys every 90 days. FlowManner makes it easy to swap keys without reconfiguring your agents.
Never share keys in prompts
Do not paste API keys into chat messages or system prompts. Use the Settings panel exclusively.
Local models work too
Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint works — including Ollama, LM Studio, and vLLM running on your own hardware.
Step-by-Step
Generate an API Key
Go to your provider's dashboard (e.g., platform.openai.com/api-keys) and create a new secret key. Copy it immediately — most providers only show it once.
Open Settings → API Keys
In FlowManner, navigate to Settings from the sidebar, select the API Keys tab and click Add API Key. Choose your provider from the dropdown — OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google AI, Groq, Together, Fireworks, DeepInfra, xAI, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
Paste and Save
Paste your API key and check the Base URL — it is pre-filled for each provider and you can point it at a self-hosted or custom gateway. Click Save: FlowManner encrypts the key at rest with AES-256 and never logs it. You can then fetch the provider's live model list or type a custom model ID.
Test Your Connection
Click Test next to your key. FlowManner queries the provider's /models endpoint to verify the key; if the upstream has no /models endpoint, a minimal one-token completions probe is sent as a fallback. A green checkmark means the key authenticated successfully — a red result saying "Invalid API key" means the provider rejected the key.
Related guides
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