What “bring your own AI key” means, in plain words

The idea in one table

What the key actually is

An AI company gives each account holder a long secret code, called an API key, so that software can use the account. You create it in your account with the AI company, copy it, and paste it into the chat tool. From then on, when the tool asks the AI to draft or send a reply, the request goes through your account and appears on your bill there.

Treat the key like a password: anyone who has it can spend from your AI account. Paste it only into the tool you mean to use, do not share it in chats or e-mails, and create a new one if you think it leaked. StayReplied's security page describes how secrets are kept: provider tokens are encrypted and never sent to browsers.

Who bills you, and for what

With your own key, there are two separate bills:

• Your StayReplied plan, at the regular monthly prices on the pricing page: Starter AED 70, Team AED 210, Business AED 420, plus 5% VAT shown before you pay.
• Your AI usage, billed by the AI company. The pricing page is explicit: with your own provider key the provider bills you directly and StayReplied never charges those tokens a second time.

The AI company's own price list decides what each reply costs; it depends on the model you pick and how long the replies are. StayReplied does not set those prices, so check them in your AI account before you start.

What stays in your control

• The model. You pick the Claude model in StayReplied. Model choice is explicit, and a cheaper call is never silently retried on a more expensive model (AI sales and support).
• The budget. You set daily and monthly AI budgets. When a budget runs out, the AI pauses and human replies keep working (sizing a budget).
• Where AI may act. The answer mode is set per channel: off, draft for a person, or answer.
• What it may say. The AI answers only from your published knowledge and approved prices (how that stops wrong prices), and hands the chat to a person when it is unsure. Complaints and refund demands go to a person.
• Tone and length. Set formality, length, emoji and the calls to action you allow.

How to start, step by step

1. Start without AI. Set up the inbox and the website chat widget, and answer as a team for a week.
2. Publish your answers and prices. The AI can only use published knowledge, and web chat reads only a knowledge base set to Public (a new one starts as Internal).
3. Create a key with Anthropic in an account your business owns, not a staff member's personal one.
4. Set a small daily and monthly budget in StayReplied before turning anything on.
5. Set the website channel to drafts. The AI prepares replies; your team reads, edits and sends them.
6. Review a week of drafts. If they are right, consider letting the channel answer; if not, fix the published answers first. When AI should hand a chat to a person helps you decide.

Can you skip AI entirely?

Yes, and many small teams should at first. The shared inbox, ownership, internal notes, presence, tickets and the website chat widget all work without any AI key; your team answers every chat (how to add the widget). AI is optional; the core of good chat service is a fast, consistent human reply.

When this is not for you

If you want AI replies with no separate AI account and one bill, that option is coming soon (integrations). If nobody in your business is comfortable creating an account with an AI company and handling a secret key, start with people answering and come back to AI later. For e-mail-led support teams, see when a general help desk is enough.