AI settings and your own API key

Choose where translation, Organize with AI and paper cards are run. Normally they run on a model on your device and nothing is sent anywhere. With your own API key, the provider you choose does the work.

Applies to Mendeley and Zotero editions Windows · Linux · Mac · iPad · Android Included in the purchase

Choose where AI runs

Rectoly uses AI for three things: translation, organizing your notes with AI and paper cards. There is no chat screen.

  1. Open Settings and choose AI, right below Translation.
  2. Under Where AI runs, choose one of the two:
ChoiceWhere the work is doneWhat leaves the device
This deviceA model on the deviceNothing
Your own API keyThe AI provider you chooseThe paragraphs you translate, the notes you organize, the paragraphs a card is written from
  • It starts on This device. Nothing is sent out unless you choose it yourself.
  • iPad · AndroidWhen a computer is paired, This device reads This device and your PC. The computer takes on translation only; Organize with AI and paper cards run on this device. See Let your PC translate.
  • In some regions and stores the settings have no AI. Your own API key cannot be used there.

The features that use AI are included in the purchase and free during the 14-day free trial. Rectoly sets no limit on how often you use your own API key. The provider's charges are billed to you by the provider.

The model on this device

On This device, the translation model (about 2.5 GB) does the work for all three. You download it once, and it runs offline from then on.

  • Download it under Settings › Translation, or from the screen of any of the three features. See Start translating.
  • Running the model needs a device with roughly 8 GB of memory or more. See What you need.
  • On a device that cannot run the model, Your own API key makes all three available.

Set up your own API key

  1. In Settings › AI, under Where AI runs, choose Your own API key.
  2. A notice appears: Your text will be sent to an external cloud. Read what is sent, who charges, and where results are kept, and if you agree press Agree and set up. Cancelling changes nothing.
  3. Choose the Provider:
    • OpenAI
    • Anthropic (Claude)
    • Google Gemini
    • DeepSeek
    • OpenRouter
    • OpenAI-compatible (a service that accepts requests in OpenAI's format; type its Server URL)
    • Ollama / LM Studio (a server of your own on the same network; type its Server URL)
  4. Type the API key. If you do not have one yet, Get an API key opens the provider's page.
  5. Choose the Model. Get the provider’s list shows the models your key can use; you can also type a name.
  6. Press Test connection. Rectoly has one short sentence translated for real; when it says Connected with the result, the set-up works.
  7. Press Use this setup. When it reads In use: with the provider and model, translation, Organize with AI and paper cards run with that provider.
  • The API key is stored on this device only. It is not synced, so enter it on each device.
  • After changing the provider, press Use this setup again.

What is sent

While your own API key is in use, the following goes from this device straight to the provider you chose, not through Rectoly's server:

  • the paragraphs you translate, and the text inside figures
  • a paper's title, headings and opening, so that its terms stay consistent
  • the notes you organize with AI
  • the paragraphs a paper card is written from

The provider handles it under your own account, and its terms and data practices apply. Choose in line with the policies of your institution or lab and with the terms a paper comes under (a manuscript under review, for example).

  • Papers you have not opened are never sent. Translating library papers ahead stops while your own API key is in use.
  • The one exception is making cards for new papers, and only after you turn it on yourself; turning it on asks separately.
  • Results (translations, research themes, cards) are kept on this device, and in Mendeley or Zotero if you have set that up.
  • A translation or card made with your own API key says where it came from: the AI, the provider and model, and "your API key".

Before a paper is translated

The first time a paper is translated with your own API key, Rectoly asks Translate this paper with (provider)? Look at the estimate of how much will be sent, in tokens, and choose Translate or Not now.

  • The estimate is in tokens. Rectoly shows no amount of money, since that depends on the provider's prices.
  • Translate Selection and Translate Text in Figure act on what you have just chosen, so they do not ask.
  • The screens of Organize with AI and paper cards also say Runs on (provider) with your API key. and give an estimate of what will be sent.

Stop using it

In Settings › AI, press Stop using, or set Where AI runs back to This device. Nothing is sent after that. To use the key again, you start from the notice once more.

When something goes wrong

MessageWhat to do
The API key was not accepted. Check the key and your credit.Enter the key again, and check your credit and the key's expiry on the provider's page
The provider’s rate limit was reached. Please try again later.Wait a little. On a free or low usage tier, the limit can be reached part-way through one paper
The provider declined to process this content.That paragraph is not translated. Rectoly does not switch to the device's model to translate it instead
Could not connect. Check your network and the URL.Check the server URL. http:// is accepted only for a server inside your own network
The provider listed no models. Type the model name.Type the name under Model yourself

Updated October 10, 2026