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Connect your OpenAI account

Outlet needs your OpenAI admin key, which is different from a regular API key. Outlet uses it to create a small, capped key for each app you approve, inside your own account. It is stored encrypted and never given to any app.

Heads up: this is your API account, not ChatGPT. An OpenAI API account lives at platform.openai.com and has its own balance, separate from a ChatGPT subscription. Apps connected through Outlet spend from the API balance.

What you need

An OpenAI API account where you are the Owner (if you signed up yourself, you are), and billing set up at least once. Admin keys start with sk-admin-. Regular keys start with sk-proj- and will not work for connecting.

Steps

Sign in to the OpenAI platform

Go to platform.openai.com and sign in. If you belong to more than one organization, make sure the right one is selected in the top-left switcher.

Open the Admin keys page

Go straight to platform.openai.com/settings/organization/admin-keys, or click the gear icon, then Organization, then Admin keys.

Screenshot slot: Settings sidebar with Admin keys highlighted

Create the key and copy it

Click Create new admin key, name it outlet, and copy the sk-admin-... key right away. OpenAI shows it only once. If you lose it, delete it there and make a new one.

Screenshot slot: Create new admin key dialog

Paste it into Outlet

Back in Outlet, paste the key when asked. Done. You can revoke it any time from the same OpenAI page, which cuts Outlet off completely.

Never paste your admin key into any app. Only Outlet's connect screen should ever see it. Apps get their own small keys with spending caps; that is the whole point.

Learn more

OpenAI's official article: Admin and Audit Logs API for the API Platform.