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AI Chat Importer

How to Get an Anthropic API Key (and Use It in AI Chat Importer)

Step-by-step guide to creating an Anthropic API key and using it with AI Chat Importer's Auto-Sort feature to automatically organise your imported conversations.

RM
By R. Miller · AI Chat Importer

AI Chat Importer's Auto-Sort feature can use Anthropic's Claude API to automatically categorise and organise your imported conversations into folders. This guide walks through getting an Anthropic API key and configuring it in the app.

What You'll Need

Step 1 — Create an Anthropic Account

Go to console.anthropic.com and sign up or log in. This is Anthropic's developer console — separate from claude.ai where you use Claude as a chat assistant.

Step 2 — Add a Payment Method

Anthropic requires a funded account before API keys will work. Go to Billing in the left sidebar and add a payment method.

A small starting credit is enough — Auto-Sort sends only conversation titles to the API for classification, not full conversation content, so the cost per operation is minimal.

Step 3 — Create an API Key

  1. Go to API Keys in the left sidebar at console.anthropic.com
  2. Click Create Key
  3. Give it a name — "AI Chat Importer" works well
  4. Copy the key immediately — Anthropic will not show it again after you close this dialog

Store the key somewhere safe. If you lose it you will need to create a new one.

Step 4 — Enter the Key in AI Chat Importer

  1. Open the AI Chat Importer desktop app
  2. Go to Settings → Auto-Sort
  3. Select Anthropic as the provider
  4. Paste your API key into the API Key field
  5. Set the model to claude-haiku-4-5 — it is the fastest and most cost-effective Claude model for classification tasks
  6. Click Test Connection — you should see a green confirmation

Step 5 — Run Auto-Sort

With your key configured, go to Settings → Auto-Sort Conversations. AI Chat Importer will scan your imported conversations and suggest a folder structure. Review the suggestions and confirm — your conversations are sorted automatically.

Troubleshooting

"Invalid API key" error Double-check you copied the full key with no spaces. Create a new key if in doubt.

"Insufficient credits" error Add a payment method and credit balance in Billing on console.anthropic.com before the API key will work.

Test Connection passes but Auto-Sort produces nothing Make sure you have conversations imported. Check the model name is exactly claude-haiku-4-5 — model names are case-sensitive.

For a full guide covering all supported providers including OpenAI, Gemini, and OpenRouter, see the Cloud AI Auto-Sort setup guide.

Prefer to keep everything local with no API costs? See the Ollama setup guide.

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