# Your own AI model key

> Why ReceiptFold uses your own AI model key, which providers work (Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic), how to get and add a key, what it costs and what is sent to the model.

ReceiptFold reads most receipts **by rule**, with no AI model. A model, with a key **you** bring, adds three things:

1. **Hard receipts get read for you.** When the parser is unsure, the model reads the receipt. A complete answer (amount, currency and date) becomes a row; a partial one goes to Review for you to confirm. The first receipt it reads from a new vendor asks for one confirmation.
2. **Ask** answers questions about your money, and **Insights** writes the analysis: a profile, an action plan and budgets that fit your months.
3. **What was bought**: receipts that only say the shop and the total get the product written down.

Everything else (rows, Spend, Search, the habits score, patterns, alerts, the summaries by email) works without a key.

## What a key is

A key is a long code you copy once from the provider. It lets ReceiptFold use that model on your behalf, **billed to you** by the provider. It is stored encrypted in your workspace (AES-256-GCM) and you can remove it any time.

## Providers

| Provider | Suggested model | To start |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Google Gemini | gemini-2.5-flash | Free to start, no card needed; a Google account works |
| OpenAI | gpt-4o-mini | A card on file; pay as you go |
| Anthropic | claude-haiku-4-5 | A card on file; pay as you go |

Leave the model empty to use the suggested one.

## How to add it

1. Open the provider's keys page and sign in (the app links to each one).
2. Create a key and copy it.
3. In ReceiptFold open **Settings → Parsing**, choose the provider, paste the key and press **Save key**. The receipts waiting in Review are read with it right away; the ones it can read leave the queue on their own.

## What it costs

A question or a hard receipt costs a fraction of a cent. A normal month is cents, not dollars.

## What is sent to the model

Only what each task needs: for a hard receipt, that receipt's text; for questions and the analysis, totals and the few rows the answer needs, never your whole file. Your key is used only for your workspace.