Use your own AI key

By default, AI features run on your device with Chrome's built-in Gemini Nano — no key needed. If you want a stronger model, plug in your own: Anthropic, OpenAI, or a local Ollama server. Requests go straight from your browser to the provider you chose; your key is stored on this device only and never syncs.

Connect a cloud provider (Anthropic or OpenAI)

  1. Open My Notes → ⋮ menu → Settings → Labs.
  2. Under AI provider, choose Your own key, then pick the vendor tab.
  3. Paste your API key (from console.anthropic.com or platform.openai.com).
  4. Pick a model — the dropdown fetches your provider's live model list; type to filter.
  5. Click Save & connect. Chrome asks permission for that one API domain, and My Notes tests the connection before switching anything over.

That's it — Summarize, Rewrite, Ask AI and page summaries now use your model. The slash-menu placeholder shows which engine is answering (e.g. “✨ Thinking — Anthropic · claude-haiku-4-5…”). Inline autocomplete always stays on-device, whatever you pick.

Connect a local Ollama

Same steps, choose the Ollama (local) tab — no key needed. But Ollama blocks browser extensions by default, so first run this once in a terminal, then restart Ollama:

launchctl setenv OLLAMA_ORIGINS "chrome-extension://*"

(Linux: set OLLAMA_ORIGINS="chrome-extension://*" in the environment that starts Ollama.) If you skip this, connecting fails with a 403 — the settings panel will remind you.

Good to know