# Get an OpenAI API key

Create an OpenAI API key, add it to a Borago Board project under the Codex card, check it with Verify and run a first task.

Borago Board runs OpenAI models through the OpenAI API, on an API key from your own OpenAI account. The app labels this provider **Codex (OpenAI)**. A ChatGPT plan cannot be used. OpenAI's terms keep a ChatGPT plan to OpenAI's own apps, and API access is billed separately on an API key, so Borago Board has no subscription sign-in.

## You need

- The desktop app and a project, see [Creating a project](/docs/guides/creating-a-project/).
- An OpenAI Platform account with billing set up. Prices are on [OpenAI's API pricing page](https://openai.com/api/pricing/).

## Steps

### 1. Create the key

Sign in at [platform.openai.com](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys), open API keys and create a secret key. Copy it. It starts with `sk-`.

### 2. Paste it into the project

Press **Edit project** among the project's controls and open the **AI Auth** tab. Under **AI credentials (this project)**, find the card **Codex account (OpenAI)**. Tick the box confirming you are 18 or older and meet OpenAI's requirements. Paste the key into the field.

### 3. Verify, then save

Press **Verify** beside the field. It lists your account's models, which costs nothing, and prints **This key works.** Press **Save changes**, or **Create project** on a new project.

What happens. Saving encrypts the key and stores it. Saving does not test it, so Verify is the check. A key that fails on a real run pauses the project's queue with an HTTP 401 notice until you replace it. The key syncs to your other devices unless you tick **Keep this API token on this device only**. From a browser or a phone, the key passes through the cloud, held in memory and never stored, to your desktop app to be encrypted, so the desktop must be connected. Verify sends it the same way.

### 4. Choose OpenAI for the runs

Open the **AI Roles** tab. In **Task runner**, choose **Codex (OpenAI)**, then a model. Press **Save changes**.

What happens. OpenAI runs have a shell and a file editor in the project container, a code search, task breakdown, OpenAI's own web search (up to 8 searches a run) and an investigator that explores the code in a separate context. There is no page fetch tool, but the agent can still fetch a known address from the container. **Cost budget (USD, this machine)** on the Codex card pauses OpenAI tasks at a spend you choose.

## First task to try

Add a task in **Planning**, paste this, and move it to **To Do**.

```
List the files in the project's root folder, then create PROVIDER_CHECK.md
containing one sentence that says which files you found.
```

Related: [Choosing an AI provider](/docs/guides/choosing-an-ai-provider/), [Cost and usage](/docs/guides/cost-and-usage/), [Get a Claude API key](/docs/tutorials/keys/claude/), [Run the same task on three providers](/docs/tutorials/compare-providers/)