BYOK Providers
Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) connects your third-party AI provider credentials to the Skytells AI Gateway. Once enabled, all AI operations across the Console, APIs, and SDKs route through your provider — no markup, no separate billing, everything centralized.
BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) connects your own third-party AI provider credentials to the Skytells platform. Once a provider is enabled, it is wired into the Skytells AI Gateway — the routing layer that handles all AI operations across the Console, the Predictions API, and the SDKs. Every AI call your account makes flows through your provider key, not Skytells' model quota.
This makes BYOK a centralization strategy, not just a key-paste. Your provider account becomes the single source of truth for AI spend across every surface — playgrounds, predictions, SDK calls, and API requests — with no markup fees from Skytells.
How BYOK works across the platform
When a BYOK provider is enabled, the Skytells AI Gateway routes eligible AI requests through your provider credential. This applies uniformly:
| Surface | With BYOK enabled |
|---|---|
| Console Playgrounds (Inference, LLM) | Requests route through your provider key |
| Predictions API (API reference) | SDK and API calls use your provider credential via the Gateway |
| TypeScript SDK (Docs) | All inference methods run through your provider |
| Python SDK (Docs) | All inference methods run through your provider |
| Eve (AI agent) | Model-invocation tasks use your provider where the model is covered |
Everything is centralized. You do not configure the SDK differently, use a separate endpoint, or split your billing view across tools — the Gateway handles routing transparently.
No markup fees
When BYOK is active, Skytells passes requests directly to your provider and charges you nothing for model usage on top of what your provider bills. You pay your provider at their published or negotiated rate. Skytells does not add a margin.
This is the direct cost model: your provider's price is your price, with Skytells' platform handling the orchestration, logging, and UI around it.
Fallback behaviour
If a request involves a model or capability not covered by your configured BYOK provider, it falls back to Skytells' native model layer and is billed to your Skytells account in the normal way. This ensures no request fails silently — the fallback is seamless and the cost entry appears in your Usage breakdown.
Fallback requests are billed to your Skytells account at standard rates. To see which requests went through BYOK vs. the native layer, check your Predictions list — each entry records the routing source.
Why use BYOK
BYOK is the right choice when:
- Your organization has a direct enterprise contract with a model provider and must route usage through that contract for compliance or cost control.
- You want zero markup — your vendor rate applies directly, with no platform fee on top.
- You need vendor separation — AI spend appears in your provider account for internal chargeback or auditing.
- You want to use a custom or private endpoint not in the Skytells model catalog.
- You have negotiated rate limits or quotas with a provider that should govern your Console usage.
If none of these apply, the Skytells native model layer requires no credential management and is simpler to get started with.
Supported providers
The BYOK Providers page lists which providers are available for connection — including OpenAI-compatible endpoints, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, and others. The list in the Console reflects current availability.
How to get here
- Open the Skytells Console and navigate to Settings in the left sidebar.
- Select BYOK (or Providers) in the Settings left rail.
Connecting a provider
- Open Settings → BYOK.
- Select the provider you want to connect.
- Paste the API key or credential from your provider account.
- Save the configuration.
The provider is immediately active in the AI Gateway. All subsequent eligible AI requests — from the Console, the API, or the SDKs — will route through your key.
Provider credentials are stored encrypted, tied to your Skytells account, and never exposed to other users or third parties. Skytells uses BYOK credentials solely for routing your requests to the provider.
Managing connected providers
| Action | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Edit / update | Replace a rotated or expired provider key. The new key takes effect immediately across all surfaces. |
| Remove | Disconnect the provider. Requests fall back to Skytells' native model layer. |
Related
- Predictions API — the API layer that routes through BYOK when enabled.
- TypeScript SDK — SDK inference calls use your BYOK provider via the Gateway.
- Python SDK — Python inference calls use your BYOK provider via the Gateway.
- Models — Skytells' native model catalog, used as fallback when BYOK does not cover a model.
- Predictions — full inference history, including BYOK-routed and fallback requests.
- Usage — account-wide cost breakdown showing BYOK vs. native billing.
- Settings Overview — all account settings sections.
- LLM Playground — where BYOK providers appear for interactive use.
- API Keys — Skytells credentials (not provider credentials).
- Settings Overview — all account settings sections.
How is this guide?
Billing
The Billing page in Settings is where you manage your Skytells subscription, payment method, invoices, and cost visibility — in one place, for your entire account.
Rewards
The Rewards page is where you find your referral link, track earned credits, and see available perks on your Skytells account.