Onboarding users with BYOK and Connect AI Pass

A new user opens your AI writing app to fix a proposal. Your onboarding asks for an API key before showing the editor. Now the user has a second task: figure out what an API key is, where to get one, and whether handing it over is sensible.

Offering both provider-key BYOK and Connect AI Pass can remove that dead end. The two options need different explanations. Provider-key BYOK uses a credential issued by a model provider. AI Pass uses a wallet-funded OAuth connection, so users can fund model usage without sharing provider keys. Calling both options "add your key" makes the easier path look just as technical.

Start with the document, then explain funding

Let people reach the editor, understand the feature, and prepare their input before choosing how to pay for generation. Saving a draft should not require connecting an AI account unless your product has a separate, clearly stated reason.

Keep your existing app login. A customer who signed in to access their proposals should not wonder whether connecting AI Pass creates a replacement workspace. The integration guide explicitly treats existing authentication, hosting, subscriptions, and credits as things to preserve.

Put the funding selector beside the first paid action, with a longer explanation available on demand. Avoid a giant onboarding questionnaire about models, gateways, and token budgets before the user has seen what the app does.

Five screens with copy you can adapt

These examples assume your app preserves drafts, supports both routes, and asks users to review an action before generation. They are proposed app copy, not descriptions of every AI Pass interface.

1. The funding choice

Choose how to fund AI usage

Connect AI Pass: Connect a wallet to pay for model usage without sharing provider API keys.

Use a provider key: Connect your own supported provider account. That provider bills usage under its terms.

Your app account and saved proposals stay the same.

Give the options equal visual dignity. A developer who already manages provider keys may prefer BYOK. Do not hide it behind a label such as "difficult setup."

2. Provider-key entry

Add your provider key

Choose the provider that issued this key. Check that your account has access to the model you want.

Review how this app stores and uses keys before continuing.

Button: Save provider connection

Link "stores and uses keys" to your actual implementation policy. If the backend stores encrypted credentials, say that. If the key stays only for a browser session, say that instead. Never borrow a stronger promise from another app.

3. The AI Pass handoff

Connect your AI Pass wallet

You'll review this app's connection request on AI Pass. Read the permissions before approving.

Connecting does not replace your app login. You'll return to this proposal afterward.

Button: Continue to AI Pass

Launch the real connection flow rather than building an imitation wallet login. The SDK documentation is the starting point for a supported browser integration.

4. Ready to generate

Review this action

Task: Rewrite the selected paragraph.

Funding: AI Pass wallet.

Review the displayed usage pricing and any app charge before continuing. Actual usage can depend on the request and response.

Button: Rewrite paragraph

Render the selected model and any available estimate using real data. Do not put a made-up amount into production copy. If your feature makes several calls, describe the whole action rather than suggesting it is a single request.

5. The user cancels connecting

Connection canceled. Your draft is still here.

Continue editing, try connecting again, or use a provider key. Nothing will run until you choose a funding method and start the action.

Buttons: Keep editing | Choose funding

Only promise this after testing that cancellation cannot dispatch generation. Cancellation should return to useful work, not an empty welcome page.

Test comprehension, not just button completion

Ask a tester to explain who pays for the next rewrite, whether their app subscription changed, and how to switch funding. Watch whether they can answer without opening a support article.

Also test a returning BYOK customer. Their working provider connection should remain selected unless they deliberately change it. An AI Pass promotion should not reset their preference.

For a backend implementation, use the REST documentation alongside the integration guide. Regardless of route, keep the funding label visible when the editor reopens. The best onboarding outcome is a user who knows what the next button will do and which account will fund it.