Bring your own key

#Who needs a key

• Free and BYOK Lifetime: the AI runs on your own OpenRouter key. You pay OpenRouter directly for what you use.
• Pay as you go: no key needed; the AI runs on your Kinisma credits.

#Connect OpenRouter

The easiest way is during setup: click Connect OpenRouter, sign in to OpenRouter in your browser, and allow Kinisma Studio. OpenRouter creates a key for the app. See Sign in and set up.

Or paste a key yourself:

1. Create a key at openrouter.ai/keys, and add credit to your OpenRouter account.
2. In Kinisma Studio open Settings → AI model.
3. Paste the key in OpenRouter API key and click Save. Test connection checks it.

#Choose the model

Model in Settings → AI model sets the AI that runs the agent. The default is recommended; click it to search all models, filter by context size or Sees images, and compare prices per million tokens. Use default goes back.

#ElevenLabs voices

To narrate with ElevenLabs, add your ElevenLabs API key in Settings → AI model (on any plan). The app checks it by playing a short sample. You're billed by ElevenLabs. See Voices and narration.

#Keeping keys safe

• Keys are stored only on your computer, encrypted with your system keychain.
• On own-key plans, calls go straight from your computer to OpenRouter.
• Remove in Settings deletes a key from the app. To stop a key working everywhere, delete it on OpenRouter too.

#Costs

• With the default model, videos cost as little as about $0.20 a minute in AI, paid to OpenRouter: about $0.15 a minute for a product tutorial, $0.25–$0.35 for an explainer with AI-composed music. Kinisma adds nothing on top.
• The $… spent link in the chat shows what the current video has cost.
• Spending limit per message (Settings → AI model) makes the agent pause and ask before one request costs more.
• Set a credit limit on the key at OpenRouter for a hard cap.