Anthropic API key

If you pick Claude as your AI provider, every AI feature in Startica calls the Claude API with your own key. Usage is billed to your Anthropic account at Anthropic’s API rates. (To use OpenAI instead, see OpenAI API key.) This page covers creating the key, setting a spend limit on Anthropic’s side, entering the key with a monthly budget in Startica, testing it and rotating it.

Create the key

1. Go to the Claude Console at platform.claude.com and sign in or create an account. Older links to console.anthropic.com redirect there.
2. Set up billing: add credits or a payment method under Settings → Billing.
3. Open Settings → API keys and create a key. Give it a name you’ll recognize, such as Startica on my laptop. If you use workspaces, pick the one you want this usage billed under.
4. Copy the key. It starts with sk-ant-. The Console shows the full key only once.

Set a spend limit in the Console

Startica has its own monthly budget (below), but it’s enforced by the app, using Startica’s own cost estimates. A limit on Anthropic’s side is a second, independent cap that holds even if something goes wrong in the app.

1. In the Claude Console, go to Settings → Billing.
2. In Spend limits, click Set limit (or Adjust limit if one is already set).
3. Enter a monthly amount at or above your Startica budget.

When you hit a Console limit, the API rejects requests until the limit resets or you raise it. In Startica those jobs fail with the API’s error message, which you can see on the System page.

If you created a separate workspace for Startica’s key, you can also give that workspace its own spend limit. The Default workspace can’t have its own limit.

Add the key to Startica

On a fresh install, the welcome wizard asks for it first: on the Connect AI step, pick Claude (Anthropic), paste the key into Anthropic API key, set Monthly budget (USD) and click Save and continue. See First run.

If you skipped that step, or to change the key later:

1. Open Settings. In the AI card, click Add API key. If a key is already saved, the button reads Change keys or budget.
2. In the AI provider dialog, set Use to Claude (Anthropic).
3. Paste the key into Anthropic API key. It must start with sk-ant-.
4. Set Monthly budget (USD). The default is $50. Any value from $1 to $10,000 is accepted.
5. Save.

The AI card now reads “Using Claude (Anthropic).” and “Anthropic API key: saved.” If you were using OpenAI before, every task on OpenAI’s models moves to Claude’s recommended models. The key is encrypted with your OS keychain; see how credentials are stored.

When you change only the budget, leave the key fields blank to keep the saved keys.

You can also save an Anthropic key while OpenAI is in use, and route single tasks to Claude models with the pencil on their row. See How Startica uses AI.

What the budget does

Before every AI call, Startica adds up the estimated cost of this calendar month’s calls (local time). If that total has reached your budget, it doesn’t make the call. The job fails with “Monthly AI budget reached ($X of $Y)”, and a blocked entry is logged. Nothing is downgraded to a cheaper model. Calls simply stop until the next month or until you raise the budget.

The check runs before each call, so one call that’s already running can push the total slightly over. See Costs for prices and typical amounts.

Check that it works

The System page has a health check that runs one real AI call through the whole pipeline: queue, background worker, Claude, cost log.

1. Open System (bottom of the sidebar). The Anthropic API key card should say Configured.
2. Click Run test job.
3. Within a few seconds, a ping row appears under Job runs with status succeeded. Its result contains Claude’s one-sentence reply.
4. Under AI calls, a ping row on claude-haiku-5-5 shows the tokens used and a cost of a fraction of a cent.

If the job fails, the error is in the Result / error column. Common causes:

Error	Fix
No Anthropic API key: add one in Settings → General → AI (the ping task uses claude-haiku-5-5)	Save the key in Settings.
authentication_error / invalid x-api-key	The key was revoked or mistyped. Create a new one and save it.
Spend or usage limit message from the API	Your Console spend limit or credit balance is exhausted. Check Settings → Billing in the Console.
Monthly AI budget reached	Startica’s own cap. Raise Monthly budget (USD) or wait for next month.

See Troubleshooting for more.

Rotate the key

1. In the Claude Console, create a new key (same steps as above).
2. In Startica, open Settings → General → AI → Change keys or budget, paste the new key into Anthropic API key, and save. The next job uses it; no restart needed.
3. Click Run test job on the System page to confirm.
4. Back in the Console, delete or disable the old key.

Do this if you think the key leaked, for example after pasting it somewhere public or sharing a copy of your data folder.

Remove the key

When OpenAI is in use and an Anthropic key is saved, the AI card shows Remove Claude (Anthropic) key. It deletes the saved key. Tasks you routed to Claude models stop working until you add a key again. While Claude is the provider in use, replace the key instead, or switch to OpenAI first.

When you run from source

Development uses the same Settings as the installed app. There’s no environment variable for the key or the budget. The only exception is yarn eval, which takes ANTHROPIC_API_KEY from your shell; see Prompts and evals.