CheapAI

Documentation

Everything you need to plug CheapAI into your tooling — setup guides for popular agents, API reference, FAQ.

1. Get an API key

Open the Keys section, click Create, and copy the full string. Keys start with sk-. If you lose the copy, click Show next to the key in the same section to reveal it again.

2. Pick your tool

Cursor

AI code editor

Create an API key — Keys page → click Create key, give it a name (e.g. cursor), copy the key into clipboard. Save it — we won't show it again in plaintext.

In Cursor open ⌘, (or Ctrl , on Windows/Linux) → in the Settings panel pick Models in the left sidebar.

Find the OpenAI section, toggle the switch ON and fill the two fields:

OpenAI API Key
YOUR_API_KEY
OpenAI Base URL
https://cheapai.io/v1

Click Verify — Cursor will ping our endpoint with a sample request. A green check means the key works.

In the same screen find Add model → enter the model ID you need (e.g. claude-sonnet-4-6, gpt-5.5, gemini-3-pro-high) and click Add. The full list of IDs is on the Models page.

Don't use the built-in model picker — Cursor pattern-matches names containing claude/opus/gpt and silently routes them to its own providers. Adding the model via «Add model» forces it through our base URL.

Open the chat (⌘L), pick the model from the dropdown above the input — and ask a question. If everything is wired up, you'll see a response within seconds.

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with a real key from the Keys section.

Documentation · CheapAI · CheapAI