Every bot answers with tufu's AI, included in your plan. On either plan you can add your own AI key instead and pick the model for each bot:
- Answers on your key are counted apart from the ones on tufu's AI: free and unlimited on Team, and 1,000 a month on Free (see below).
- You pay the provider directly, at their prices, on your own account.
- You choose the model, from small and cheap to large and thorough.
Adding a key#
- Get an API key from your provider (links below).
- In tufu, open Bots, and under Your own AI keys press Add a key. Team admins only.
- Choose the provider, give the key a name you'll recognize, and paste it.
tufu checks the key with the provider when you save it, so a typo shows up right away instead of as a bot that can't answer. Keys are stored encrypted, and tufu only ever shows the first and last few characters.
Using it in a bot#
Edit the bot, and in its AI section:
- Runs on: choose your key instead of tufu's AI;
- Model: choose one of that provider's models (for OpenRouter, type the model's id, like
provider/model-name); - Reasoning level: how much the model thinks before answering. Higher helps with hard questions but is slower and costs more.
Each bot can use a different key and model. Removing a key moves the bots that used it back to tufu's AI.
Providers and models#
- OpenAI (get a key): GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.4 Mini, GPT-5.4 Nano.
- Anthropic (get a key): Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Claude Haiku 5.5.
- Google Gemini (get a key): Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview), Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
- xAI (Grok) (get a key): Grok 4.7, Grok 4.3.
- OpenRouter (get a key): any model in OpenRouter's catalog; you type its id.
What still runs on tufu#
A few things don't use your key, and never count as answers:
- Reading your knowledge. Searching your docs always uses tufu's own search model, whatever model your bots answer with, so every bot can search the same knowledge.
- Conversation summaries and chat titles use tufu's AI.
Suggested replies for your team use the bot's own key, when it has one.
Data privacy by provider#
When a bot answers, the provider receives the visitor's question, the conversation so far, the passages from your knowledge that matched, and the bot's instructions. Your own key means your own agreement with that provider applies. As of October 2026:
| Provider | Trains on your data? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | No, not on API data | |
| OpenAI | No, not on API data | |
| Google Gemini | No, on the paid tier | Use a key from a Google Cloud project with billing turned on; free-tier data can be used to improve Google's products. |
| xAI | Not without your permission | Keeps API data for 30 days. |
| OpenRouter | Depends on the provider it routes to | tufu asks OpenRouter to route only to providers that don't store or train on your data. OpenRouter is one more company your data passes through. |
Check your provider's current terms before you add a key; they can change.
On the Free plan#
Free bots can use your key too. Answers on it count against their own monthly allowance, 1,000 a month, separate from the 200 on tufu's AI. When that allowance runs out, bots on your key stop answering until next month (visitors can still reach your team with Talk to a human). On Team, answers on your own key are free and unlimited.
Your key's answers still count toward the usage limits, which protect your key from a runaway bot.