Add a provider key

Perfica holds no key of its own. You add keys for the providers you already use, and they are stored on your device. No key yet? Start free sets you up with a free OpenRouter key and a free Gemini key: see First run on free models.

Supported providers

Provider	Needs a key	Notes
Anthropic	Yes
OpenAI	Yes
Google	Yes	A Gemini API key. Has a free tier.
OpenRouter	Yes	Many models behind one key. Type any model name.
NVIDIA	Yes	Type any model name.
Ollama	No	Runs on your machine.
LM Studio	No	Runs on your machine.

Adding a key

1. Open Settings (the gear, top right) › APIs, press Add key, and choose the Provider.
2. Mark a favourite with the star if you have more than one key for a provider. When a bubble does not name a key, Perfica uses the favourite, then the most recently used, then the most recently added.

Then open Settings › Models and set the default model. It is used by every role that has no exception, in every board on this machine. You can change the model of any single bubble in its inspector.

Models that cost nothing

• Local models. Ollama and LM Studio run models on your own machine. Perfica finds them at their usual addresses (127.0.0.1:11434 for Ollama, 127.0.0.1:1234 for LM Studio) and needs no key for either.
• Free provider tiers. Settings › APIs › Free models › Start free puts OpenRouter’s and Google’s free models into one pool from two free keys. They are tightly rate-limited: Perfica knows their limits, spaces its calls to stay inside them, and resumes a loop by itself when they come back. See Models, keys and limits.

Where keys live

• Keys are encrypted (AES-256-GCM) in a key file on this machine.
• The app’s pages never hold a key. A bubble carries only a reference to one.
• A key saved for one provider is never sent to another. If a bubble points at the wrong provider’s key, the pass stops with a clear error instead of a confusing “unauthorised”.
• With a Cloud account, you can also keep keys in the encrypted vault and move them between devices. Cloud is not on sale yet.

Next: Loops and bubbles.