Using your own API key for notes

By default notes come from a local model, and no notes request leaves your machine. If you want faster or better notes, you can use a frontier model with your own key. Recordist calls the provider directly from your machine; there is no Recordist server in between.

Set it up

1. Settings → AI notes → Notes are written by: choose Anthropic or OpenAI-compatible.
2. Paste your key. For OpenAI-compatible providers you can also set a base URL, which is how you point Recordist at a self-hosted or third-party endpoint.
3. Check the name under Model, and type another model’s name if you want a different one.
4. Click Test connection. A short request with no meeting content confirms the key works, and the ledger records it as a test.

Exactly what is sent

For each generation: the transcript text of that one meeting, its title, the names of its attendees, the date of the meeting and the template you chose. The audio, your other meetings and the ledger are never sent with it. If you use Ask, a Pro feature, the transcripts of the meetings it reads (the last 5 or 8, or those matching your search) go with your question. Each request is written to the Privacy Ledger before it is sent, with the host, byte count and reason. The provider’s own privacy terms apply to what you send them.

Where the key lives

In the macOS keychain, under the name app.recordist.desktop. It is never written to settings.json, exports, diagnostics or logs.

Mixing local and cloud

The provider in Settings → AI notes writes the notes for every meeting. To have one meeting’s notes written by another provider, choose that provider in Settings → AI notes, then choose Regenerate in that meeting’s AI notes panel, which replaces the notes it had. Set the provider back afterwards if you want your other meetings to keep the first one. On a Mac your organisation manages, IT can turn the cloud providers off with managed settings.

Removing the key

To stop using the key, choose Built in under Settings → AI notes → Notes are written by. The key stays in the keychain until you delete it there: open Keychain Access, search for app.recordist.desktop and delete the entry for your Anthropic or OpenAI key. Settings → Privacy → Remove everything and quit also deletes both keys, together with your meetings, settings and the rest of the app’s data (How to delete everything).