# Bring your own keys (BYOK)

V3Code is BYOK-first: point it at your own model provider keys and it runs against them
directly. Your keys are stored locally and only the calls you make go out — see
[Privacy](/account/privacy). BYOK works **with no account, free forever**.

## Providers out of the box

Add a key in **Settings → Providers** and the provider's models appear in the picker:

| Provider          | Examples of what you can run              |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| **Anthropic**     | Fable 5, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku              |
| **OpenAI**        | GPT-5.5 family, o-series reasoning models |
| **xAI**           | Grok 4.x family                           |
| **Google Gemini** | Gemini 3.5 / 2.5 families                 |
| **DeepSeek**      | DeepSeek v4 Pro / Flash                   |
| **Mistral**       | Codestral, Devstral, Mistral Large        |
| **Groq**          | Fast open-weight serving (Llama, Qwen)    |
| **OpenRouter**    | One key, most models on the market        |

Beyond these, an **OpenAI-compatible** provider slot accepts any endpoint that speaks
the standard API — plus first-class slots for Azure, Vertex, and Bedrock setups.

## Run models locally — no key at all

V3Code runs local models right in the editor — fully offline, free, and private.

- **Built-in local inference** — V3Code bundles a code model it can run itself
  (Qwen-Coder class, GPU-accelerated with a CPU fallback). No server to set up.
- **Ollama** — point V3Code at your running Ollama and your installed models appear in
  the picker automatically. (If a call fails, it's usually because Ollama is off.)
- **LM Studio and vLLM** — autodetected the same way.

Local models pair naturally with the [semantic index](/editor/semantic-index), which
already runs its embeddings on-device — a fully local setup end to end.

## When you need a key

- **The beta `free-auto` connection** does not need an account or API key. It uses
  currently available free cloud models and can be unavailable or rate-limited.
  See [free models](/models/connected-plans#free-agent-models). This is separate from
  Auto orchestration tiers that require a configured provider key.
- **Any provider you want to run yourself** — set the key and use that model directly
  instead of hosted credits.

## Hosted vs. BYOK

- **Hosted (paid plans)** — V3Code runs inference for you on its own models and meters;
  nothing to set up. Hosted tiers live in their own namespace, so a hosted **V3Fast**
  and your own BYOK DeepSeek key never collide — you can use both side by side. See
  [Plans](/models/plans-and-trials) and [Token wallet](/models/token-wallet).
- **BYOK** — you supply the key and pay your provider directly. Good if you already
  have provider credit or want full control of the model.