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Integrations

Adding Your Anthropic API Key

Create an Anthropic API key at console.anthropic.com and add it for Claude-powered features.

Anthropic's Claude models power many of the AI features Idea to Life can build into your product, and can also be used for the builds themselves if you bring your own key. With your own key, all usage is billed by Anthropic directly to you, visible in your Anthropic console.

Creating a key

  1. Go to console.anthropic.com and sign in or create an account (the developer console is separate from a Claude.ai subscription — a Claude Pro or Max plan does not include API access).
  2. Open the API Keys section.
  3. Click "Create Key" and name it something identifiable like "idea-to-life".
  4. Copy the key right away; it is shown only once. Anthropic keys start with:
sk-ant-...
You will need billing set up in the Anthropic console (a payment method or prepaid credits) before API calls will succeed. If AI features fail with authentication or credit errors, check the console's billing page first.

Adding the key to Idea to Life

  1. In Idea to Life, go to Settings, then Integrations, then Anthropic.
  2. Paste the key and save.

The key is encrypted at rest immediately. After saving you will only ever see a masked version, and the key is never transmitted to your browser. Decryption happens server-side only, when the platform configures your Render service's environment variables or calls the API during a build on your behalf.

Where the key is used

  • In your product: if your blueprint includes Claude-powered features (chat, summarization, content generation), the key is injected into your Render service as a server-side environment variable. It never appears in client-side code — generated projects always call Anthropic from server routes.
  • In builds: if you opt to use your own key for builds, AI token usage during code generation is billed to your Anthropic account rather than consuming platform credits for that portion.

Cost control

Set spend limits in the Anthropic console and monitor usage there. For public-facing features, request rate limiting in your blueprint so anonymous visitors cannot run up your bill. Model choice matters too: Claude comes in tiers with very different prices, and your blueprint states which model each feature uses. Downgrading a feature to a cheaper model is a simple change request.

Rotating or revoking

Revoke a key any time at console.anthropic.com. Revocation only affects AI features — your site stays live. For zero-downtime rotation: create the new key, save it in Idea to Life so your deployment updates, confirm features work, then revoke the old key. The Rotating API Keys guide covers this step by step.