OpenAI

Connect OpenAI once and your app can use its models directly: chat and text generation, embeddings, image generation, audio, and moderation. This guide covers the connection, what to ask for, and what it costs where.

Connect it

1. Get an API key from OpenAI

   In the OpenAI dashboard, create an API key. The key needs billing set up on the OpenAI side; their free trial credits work for testing.

2. Paste it into Vaulter

   Open Vault → Connectors, pick OpenAI, and paste the key into the secure form. The key goes into Vaulter's connection layer, not your project files, and the agent never sees it.

3. Ask for the feature

   Describe the outcome, not the API:

   Add an assistant tab where users can ask questions about their own saved recipes, answered by OpenAI.

   The agent wires the calls, the loading states, and the error handling.

What your app can do with it

The connection covers OpenAI's main surfaces: chat and text completions, embeddings for search and similarity, image generation, audio (speech-to-text and text-to-speech), and content moderation. Genuinely off-menu operations, like managing your OpenAI account or keys, are blocked by the endpoint policy in every context.

Who pays for what

Two meters run, and they are separate:

• Vaulter tokens pay for building the feature, like any other feature. Your app calling OpenAI at runtime costs no Vaulter tokens.
• Your OpenAI account pays for every model call your app makes, in preview and in production, because the connection is your API key. This is an owner-shared connection: all of your app's users ride on it.

Because strangers can spend your OpenAI budget once the app is published, set the owner spend quota before you publish an AI feature to the open internet. It caps calls per 30 days and pauses the feature instead of surprising you with a bill.

Frequently asked

Which model will my app use?

The agent picks a sensible current model for the job and you can override it by name: "use gpt-4o-mini for the chat feature". If OpenAI retires a model later, ask the agent to update the feature.

Can my users bring their own OpenAI keys?

No. The connection is the workspace's. If per-user AI billing is core to your product, describe that goal in chat and the agent can propose designs, but the built-in connector always runs on your key.

My AI feature stopped working in production

Check three things in order: your OpenAI account has billing headroom, your Vaulter owner spend quota has not been reached (calls fail with a payment-required error when it has), and the rate limit of 60 calls per minute is not being hit by a retry loop.