BYOK — Bring Your Own Key
Some Biniru tools call out to AI providers (image-gen, vision-AI, advanced text). Instead of bundling our key (and charging you for our usage), we let you plug in your own provider key directly into the tool. Your key stays on your device; the AI provider charges you, not us. This page explains why, which key to pick (default: Gemini-free), and how to add it.
01 Why BYOK and not bundled?
A bundled-key model would need us to (a) absorb your AI usage in the price, (b) cap heavy users to stay solvent, (c) recoup the cost via subscription instead of one-time. None of those align with the Biniru promise. BYOK keeps the tool one-time-paid, lets you control the AI usage budget, and means we never see your prompts or your key.
In plain terms: your key, your prompts, your bill. The tool just talks to the provider on your behalf, with credentials you control. You can rotate or revoke at any time without anyone needing to update software.
02 Which provider should I use?
Gemini (free tier)
Google's Gemini API has a free tier that covers most everyday needs of Biniru's vision-AI tools (BiniScope, OCR, ingredient explanations, etc). You only pay if you exceed the free quota — and most users never do.
Limitation: the free tier does not cover production-scale image-generation (Biniôke renders). For that, see the OpenAI/equivalent option below.
Get a Gemini key →OpenAI / Anthropic
If you already pay for OpenAI or Anthropic for other work, the same key works inside Biniru tools. Quality is generally on par or above Gemini's free tier; you control the spend in your own provider dashboard.
When this is the right choice: heavy use, image-generation needs (Biniôke), or you specifically want a particular model's output style.
Get an OpenAI key →Image-gen provider
Biniôke's per-render image generation is a paid operation everywhere — Gemini's free tier does not include image-gen at production volume. For that one tool you need an image-gen-capable key (OpenAI, paid Gemini, or equivalent).
Other Biniru tools that call vision-AI (BiniScope, OCR translator) work fine on Gemini free.
03 Per-tool requirements
Most Biniru tools require no key at all — the whole PTK toolkit is offline. The few that do need an AI provider:
| Tool | Requires | Recommended | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PTK (95 tools) | No key | — | Fully offline. No AI provider needed for any of the 95 tools. |
| Sunôgrâtor | No key | — | Direct Suno API access via your Suno login. No third-party AI key. |
| BiniruVault | No key | — | Pure local crypto. Nothing leaves your machine. |
| BiniScope (suite) | Vision-AI key | Gemini-free | Daily-use sample analysis fits inside Gemini free quota. |
| AI Water Analysis | Vision-AI key | Gemini-free | Same as BiniScope — Gemini free is enough. |
| Ingredient OCR (PTK) | No key | — | On-device ML Kit OCR + local DB. No cloud AI. |
| Biniôke | Image-gen key | OpenAI (paid) | Per-render image-gen. Gemini free will not cover production volume. |
04 How to add your key
Each tool has a Settings screen where you paste the key. Steps are the same across tools:
- Get the key from your provider's dashboard (links above). Copy it once.
- Open the tool. Go to Settings → API key → paste.
- (Optional) Set a monthly spend cap in your provider's dashboard. The tool cannot enforce caps — only the provider can.
- The key is stored encrypted on your device. Never sent to Biniru servers, never logged, never shared.
⚠ One thing we cannot solve
Once your key is in the tool, the provider sees your prompts (because they generate the response). Biniru never sees them, but Google / OpenAI / Anthropic does — under their privacy policy. If that's not acceptable for your use case, the only fix is a local LLM (which is on the Biniru roadmap as own-metal LLM-inference, but not yet shipping).
05 What if I don't want any cloud AI at all?
Then PTK + Sunôgrâtor + BiniruVault are your stack. They're 100% offline / local-cloud-free. You skip the BYOK-requiring tools (BiniScope, Biniôke). The pure-local subset still gives you 95+ working tools.
For the cloud-AI tools to also become local: that's the local-LLM-on-own-metal roadmap. When ready, every BYOK-requiring tool gets a "use Biniru's local model" toggle, and your data stays inside the EU on Biniru hardware. Not yet shipped — explicit honest status.