Create an OpenAI API key

Your OpenAI key · billed by OpenAI · stored in Keychain

Listen Orb is a paid Mac app. The license is one-time and sold through Polar. That payment is not OpenAI credit.

Speech still uses your own OpenAI API key. On first launch the app asks you to paste one. That key stays on your Mac. OpenAI bills the project that issued it. Listen Orb does not have accounts and does not sell tokens.

A ChatGPT Plus or Pro plan is not API billing. If you skip that step, dictation will fail with an authentication or quota error after you paste a key.

The short version

Turn on API billing, create a key, paste it into the Listen Orb window, then grant Microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring when macOS asks.

Step by step

1. Open the OpenAI Platform

   Sign in at platform.openai.com with the OpenAI account you want to pay from. This is the developer site, not chat.openai.com.

2. Turn on API billing

   Open the API billing overview. Add a payment method or credits, and look at auto-recharge before you confirm. Dictation uses Realtime transcription plus a small editing pass, so it is usage-based.

3. Create a project for this Mac

   In Settings, under Organization, open Projects and choose Create project. Name it Listen Orb. Keeping this separate makes it easy to see what the overlay costs and to revoke the key later.

4. Create a secret key

   Open API keys for that project. Choose Create new secret key. Name it something like Mac dictation. The default All permission is the simplest first run. If the dialog offers a restricted Realtime permission, write access for Realtime connections is enough.

5. Copy it once

   OpenAI shows the full key a single time. It usually starts with sk-. Copy it immediately. Do not paste it into chat, email, a GitHub issue, or a screenshot.

6. Paste it into Listen Orb

   Return to the first-run window and paste the key. Choose Save and continue. The app writes it to the Keychain item listen-orb-openai and does not print it. If you already dismissed that window, start the app again, or right-click the capsule and choose API key….

7. Grant the three Mac permissions

   The first listen may ask for access. If it does not, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and enable the app you launched (Listen Orb, or Terminal if you started it from there) under Microphone, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring. Quit and reopen that app after changing a permission.

What you are paying for

Polar takes the one-time Listen Orb license. That is the Mac app.

Each listen also sends audio to OpenAI’s Realtime transcription API. When polishing is on, a second request edits the transcript. You can turn polishing off. That usage appears on your OpenAI invoice.

If something fails

• The overlay says the key is missing. Paste it again from the first-run window, or right-click the capsule and choose API key….
• 401 or authentication error. Create a new key and paste the new value. The old one may have been copied incompletely.
• Quota or billing error. Return to the API billing overview and confirm the project has a payment method or credits.

The key never leaves your Mac except as the Authorization header to OpenAI. See privacy for what audio and nearby text do.