Set up OpenAI
MindMap Chat runs on your own hardware by default, through Ollama or LM Studio. OpenAI is optional. Choose it when you want a more capable model than your machine can run, and accept the trade: what the AI needs to answer leaves your device. This page is the setup; what that means for your data is on the privacy page, and the app asks you to agree before a single word is sent. Claude is the other option, and the two work the same way.
You need API credit, not a ChatGPT subscription
This is the step that catches people out. API access is billed separately. ChatGPT Plus, Pro or Team do not include API credit — they are different products with different bills, and a ChatGPT login is not an API key.
You pay OpenAI per token, directly. MindMap Chat takes no commission, never sees your account, and shows you the token count of every session so the bill is not a surprise.
Create the key
- Go to platform.openai.com and sign in. The same account as ChatGPT works; the billing is separate.
- Open Settings → Billing and add credit. A key with no credit behind it authenticates fine and then fails on the first message, which is a confusing way to find out.
- Open API keys and press Create new secret key.
- Name it something you will recognise in a year — MindMap Chat — and pick the project you added credit to. A project-scoped key needs nothing else from you: the app sends no organisation or project header, so the key's own project is the one billed. That is why there is no workspace field here, unlike Claude.
- Leave the permissions at the default, or restrict them to model access if you are offered the choice. That is all this app uses.
- Copy the key. It starts
sk-and is shown once.
Put it in the app
- Open Settings → AI and set Provider to OpenAI.
- Read the dialog and accept it. Declining leaves your previous provider selected — nothing is sent, and nothing is changed.
- Paste the key into API key.
- Press Reload next to Model. This asks OpenAI which models your account can actually use, and flags any the app lists that it no longer offers.
- Press Test connection. All four checks should go green: endpoint reachable, authentication accepted, model available, test reply received.
What it costs you, and how to keep it small
Two controls sit under Cost and size in the AI tab:
- The session total, in tokens OpenAI itself reported — not an estimate. Your usage dashboard on the platform remains the authority on the bill.
- Ask before sending more than, a ceiling on one request, 32k tokens by default. A large map is both a bill and the thing leaving your device; above this the request is refused and tells you the number, rather than being sent quietly. Set it to No limit if you would rather it did not.
There is also an optional Scrub identifiers before sending switch, off by default. It replaces email addresses, IP and MAC addresses, GUIDs, file paths and token-shaped strings with placeholders. It is defence in depth, not a guarantee — and because your map is what gets sent, the model then answers about the placeholder, so a map full of real addresses gets worse replies with it on.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Authentication failed (401) | The key reached OpenAI and was rejected. Check it was copied whole, and that it has not been deleted or rotated in the Console. |
| Access denied (403) | The key is valid but its project has no access to the model you picked. Try another model, or check the project's model permissions. |
| Not found (404) | OpenAI does not serve that model to your account. Press Reload next to Model — the app will list what you can actually use. |
Quota exceeded (429), insufficient_quota |
The project has no credit left, whatever your ChatGPT plan says. Top it up under Billing. The app names this one directly rather than reporting it as a rate limit, and does not retry it — a balance does not refill by waiting. |
| Rate limit reached (429) or a 5xx | Nothing is wrong with your setup — the provider is busy, or you sent too much too fast. The app waits and retries a couple of times on its own before reporting it. |
Who is responsible for what
MindMap Chat is not affiliated with OpenAI or Anthropic, and does not resell, host or intermediate their services. When you enable one, you are using your own account with that provider, and that is an agreement between you and them: their terms of service, privacy policy, usage policies, pricing and availability govern it. Any account, billing, quota or support matter is yours to take up with them directly — this app has no visibility into your account and cannot act on your behalf.
Warranty and liability are the licence's, not a second set of terms. This software ships under the Elastic License 2.0, whose No Liability section reads:
As far as the law allows, the software comes as is, without any warranty or condition, and the licensor will not be liable to you for any damages arising out of these terms or the use or nature of the software, under any kind of legal claim.
That covers anything that goes wrong when a provider is involved — outages, rate limits, models changed or withdrawn, refused or wrong answers, how the provider handles what is sent, a suspended account, or charges made to it — for the same reason it covers everything else.
Deleting a chat here deletes it here. Clear conversation removes the messages from this device's encrypted database and makes no network call — there is nothing to delete at the provider in the sense you might expect, because the API is stateless and keeps no conversation of its own. What it does keep is the requests already sent, for as long as its retention policy says. Nothing in this app can reach that; the provider's privacy policy governs it.
Read the provider's own policies before enabling this:
- OpenAI — Terms of use, Privacy policy, Usage policies
- Anthropic — Consumer Terms, Commercial Terms, Privacy Policy, Usage Policy
Changing your mind
Switch Provider back to Ollama or LM Studio at any time and nothing goes to OpenAI again. Your key stays in the app's encrypted database until you clear the field and save, and every map you have made stays exactly where it was — encrypted, on your machine.
Prefer to keep everything local? That path is fully supported and remains the default.