Connect Your Own AI Provider to Klearskill

The Klearskill Starter plan is $10 a month and gives you unlimited jobs, unlimited candidates and unlimited AI CV screening. The catch is that you supply the AI. On Starter, all AI calls run on your own account with one of four providers, and the AI cost (typically a few cents per screen) is billed to you directly by that provider. This guide walks you through picking a provider, creating an API key, and pasting it into Klearskill. Most people finish in under 10 minutes.

Step 1: Pick your AI provider

Klearskill supports four AI providers on Starter. All four produce excellent screening results for typical hiring workloads. Pick the one that fits your budget, your data policy and your familiarity.

• OpenAI: the household name. Simple sign up, mature dashboard, well documented. Best if you already have an account.
• Anthropic (Claude): strong at long documents and nuanced reasoning. Cost per screen is comparable to OpenAI.
• Gemini (Google): usually the cheapest per screen. Good if you already have a Google Cloud or Google account.
• OpenRouter: a single account that gives you access to models from every major provider. Best if you want to switch models without switching accounts.

You only need one. You can switch providers later in Klearskill settings without losing any data.

Step 2: Sign up and add billing

Every provider needs a payment method on file before it will issue an API key that actually works. This is a security measure on their side, not ours. Add a card and, if the provider requires it, prepay a small amount of credit (usually $5 to $10 is plenty to start).

• OpenAI: sign up at platform.openai.com. Go to Settings, then Billing, then Add payment method.
• Anthropic: sign up at console.anthropic.com. Go to Settings, then Plans and billing, and buy your first credits.
• Gemini: sign up at aistudio.google.com. For paid usage, upgrade to a Google Cloud billing account.
• OpenRouter: sign up at openrouter.ai. Go to Credits and top up.

Your credit balance is separate from Klearskill and never touches your Klearskill subscription. When it runs low, top up on the provider directly.

Step 3: Create your API key

Every provider has an API keys page. Click Create key, give it a name like Klearskill so you can spot it later, and copy the value the moment it appears. Most providers only show the key once. If you lose it, you have to make a new one.

• OpenAI: platform.openai.com, then API keys, then Create new secret key.
• Anthropic: console.anthropic.com, then API keys, then Create key.
• Gemini: aistudio.google.com, then Get API key, then Create API key.
• OpenRouter: openrouter.ai/keys, then Create key.

Store the key somewhere safe like a password manager. Never paste it into a public message, a screenshot, or a public repository.

Step 4: Paste the key into Klearskill

Log in to your Klearskill account and go to Settings, then AI provider. Pick your provider from the dropdown, paste the key you just copied, and click Save. Klearskill runs a quick test call to confirm the key works. If it fails, double check that billing is set up on the provider side (Step 2) and that you copied the whole key without extra spaces.

Step 5: Test with one job

Create a new job in Klearskill and drop in a CV or two to test. You should see the AI score appear in a few seconds. From that point on, every candidate who applies to any of your jobs is scored on your own AI account, at pennies per screen, with no cap.

Costs are trivially small. Depending on the model you pick, screening a single CV can cost as little as a fraction of a cent (around $0.0004 on the cheapest models like GPT-5 nano or Gemini 2.5 Flash) or as much as around 6 cents ($0.06 on premium reasoning models like Claude Fable 5 or GPT-5.5 Pro). For everyday screening, most people pay well under a cent per CV.

If anything breaks along the way, contact support and we will help you get set up.