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AI API Keys & Accounts Setup Guide

PTView AI Copilot uses Bring Your Own Key (BYOK): you connect your own API key from Google Gemini, OpenAI, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, or run Ollama 100% free and offline on your computer. Your API keys are stored only on your local machine and never uploaded to any PTView server.

AI Assistant Settings — AI Accounts

Option 1: Google Gemini (Free Tier Available — Recommended)​

Google offers a generous free API tier with fast gemini-2.5-flash responses — ideal for everyday chart analysis.

  1. Open Google AI Studio and sign in with your Google account.
  2. Click Create API key (choose an existing Google Cloud project or create a new one in 1 click).
  3. Copy the generated key (starts with AIza...).
  4. In PTView, open Tools → AI Settings… → AI Accounts tab.
  5. Select Default AI (or click Add), set:
    • AI Provider: Google Gemini (Official / Recommended)
    • API Key / Auth Token: Paste your AIza... key
    • Model ID: gemini-2.5-flash (or click Fetch Models to pick another)
  6. Click Test Connection → verify green success message → click Save & Apply.

Option 2: OpenAI (ChatGPT API)​

  1. Go to OpenAI Platform API Keys and sign in.
  2. Make sure billing credits are active under Settings → Billing.
  3. Click + Create new secret key, name it PTView, and copy the sk-... key.
  4. In PTView Tools → AI Settings…:
    • AI Provider: OpenAI / OpenAI-Compatible
    • API Key / Auth Token: Paste your sk-... key
    • Model ID: gpt-4.1-mini or gpt-4o (or click Fetch Models)
  5. Click Test Connection → Save & Apply.

Option 3: DeepSeek​

  1. Sign in at DeepSeek Platform and top up API balance.
  2. Click Create new API key and copy it.
  3. In PTView Tools → AI Settings…:
    • AI Provider: DeepSeek
    • API Key / Auth Token: Paste your key
    • Model ID: deepseek-chat (or deepseek-reasoner)
  4. Click Test Connection → Save & Apply.

Option 4: OpenRouter (One Key for 100+ Free & Paid Models)​

  1. Sign in at OpenRouter Keys and click Create Key.
  2. In PTView Tools → AI Settings…:
    • AI Provider: OpenRouter
    • API Key / Auth Token: Paste your sk-or-... key
    • Click Fetch Models to browse both free (:free) and paid models (Claude, Llama, Gemini, GPT).
  3. Click Test Connection → Save & Apply.

Option 5: Ollama (100% Free & Offline Local Models)​

Run AI completely offline on your own GPU/CPU with zero API costs:

  1. Install Ollama for Windows.
  2. Open PowerShell or Command Prompt and download a tool-calling capable model: 
    ollama pull qwen2.5:7b
  3. Make sure Ollama is running (ollama serve or system tray icon).
  4. In PTView Tools → AI Settings…:
    • AI Provider: Ollama (Local)
    • API Key / Auth Token: Leave blank (or type ollama)
    • Custom API Base URL: http://localhost:11434/v1
    • Click Fetch Models and pick qwen2.5:7b
  5. Click Test Connection → Save & Apply.

Adding Backup Accounts (Automatic Rate-Limit Failover)​

If you use a free-tier key that hits rate limits during busy sessions, add 1 or 2 backup accounts:

  1. Click Add (or Duplicate) in AI Accounts to add a second Gemini key or fallback provider (e.g. OpenRouter/DeepSeek).
  2. Switch to the Common & Failover tab in AI Settings and keep Auto-switch account on quota/network failure enabled.
  3. PTView automatically switches to your backup account during temporary errors or 429 rate limits and cools down the primary key before retrying.
Security & Privacy

API keys are never sent to PTView servers and are automatically masked by SecretRedactor if you ever export a Diagnostics .zip log bundle.