How to Get an OpenAI API Key (and Use It in AI Chat Importer)
Step-by-step guide to creating an OpenAI API key and using it with AI Chat Importer's Auto-Sort feature to automatically organise your imported conversations.
AI Chat Importer's Auto-Sort feature can use OpenAI's API to automatically categorise and organise your imported conversations into folders. This guide walks through getting an OpenAI API key and configuring it in the app.
What You'll Need
- An OpenAI account at platform.openai.com
- A small amount of credit added to your account (a few dollars covers months of Auto-Sort usage)
- AI Chat Importer Desktop — download here
Step 1 — Create an OpenAI Account
Go to platform.openai.com and sign up or log in. This is the developer platform — separate from chat.openai.com where you use ChatGPT.
Step 2 — Add a Payment Method
OpenAI requires a funded account before API keys will work. Go to Settings → Billing and add a payment method.
You don't need to add much — $5 is more than enough to get started. Auto-Sort sends only conversation titles to the API for classification, not full conversation content, so the cost per sort operation is very small. Most users spend less than $1 per month on Auto-Sort requests.
Step 3 — Create an API Key
- Go to API Keys in the left sidebar at platform.openai.com
- Click Create new secret key
- Give it a name — "AI Chat Importer" works well so you can identify it later
- Click Create secret key
- Copy the key immediately — OpenAI 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
- Open the AI Chat Importer desktop app
- Go to Settings → Auto-Sort
- Select OpenAI as the provider
- Paste your API key into the API Key field
- Set the model to
gpt-4o-mini— it is fast, accurate, and very low cost for classification tasks - 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 based on topics and themes. 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. API keys are long — it is easy to accidentally cut off the last few characters. Create a new key if in doubt.
"Insufficient credits" error You need to add a payment method and credit balance before the API key will work. Go to Settings → Billing on platform.openai.com.
Test Connection passes but Auto-Sort produces nothing
Make sure you have conversations imported before running Auto-Sort. Check the model name is exactly gpt-4o-mini — model names are case-sensitive.
For a full guide covering all supported providers including Anthropic, 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.