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Bring Your Own

Run PCIFIC's AI tools on your own OpenAI or Anthropic model and key, set up for you by PCIFIC staff.

Bring Your Own (bring your own key) runs your business's AI requests on the model provider you already use, with your own API key, instead of on PCIFIC's models. It covers Orbit, Safeguard and Ask PCIFIC. PixelTrace does not use an AI model, so it is not affected. Nothing in your integration changes: the same addresses, keys and answers.

Which providers

  • OpenAI, called at its official address (api.openai.com), through its chat completions format.
  • Anthropic, called at its official address (api.anthropic.com), through its Messages API.
  • No other provider and no other address. A key can only ever reach the provider it was saved for.

How it is set up

From asking to your requests running on your model
  1. You ask PCIFIC supportPCIFIC staff decide whether your business can use it. You cannot set it up or change it yourself.
  2. Staff save your provider, model and keyYour key is stored encrypted and is never shown again. Staff see only its last 4 characters.
  3. A health check runsPCIFIC sends your provider four small requests and one full-size Safeguard review with your key. The model must answer, return one JSON object, call a function tool, read a photo and finish the review within the same time a real review allows, because the tools need all five.
  4. Staff go through the trade-offs with youThey record that you accepted them, with their name and the date.
  5. Your requests move to your modelThis happens only once the model has passed the check on exactly what is saved. Any later change moves your requests back to PCIFIC's models until it passes again.

A passing check shows the model can do these five things. It does not show how the model will handle your live traffic. Settings in your dashboard shows a read-only status: which provider and model, whether your requests run on it, what happens when it fails, and the last health check.

What to know before you move

  • Your provider's limits and outages are yours. Your provider's rate limits may be lower than ours. If it slows down or goes down, your requests fail with an error saying your own model failed, unless PCIFIC turns on rerunning failed calls on our models for you.
  • We have not tested your model. Every model we offer is tested before we offer it. A model you bring has not been validated by us. Its health check shows it can answer, write JSON, call tools and read a photo, not how it will handle your requests.
  • Data retention follows your agreement. Requests sent to your model are kept or deleted under your agreement with your provider. Our zero data retention guarantee does not cover them.

When your model fails

An owner or admin chooses what happens in Settings. With fallback off, a request your model cannot answer fails with 502 BYO_PROVIDER_ERROR. The error identifies the failed AI connection and gives a next step. With fallback on, the same request reruns on PCIFIC's models when your model fails before showing an answer, and you get that answer. Tool responses omit AI model and provider identities.

Errors from Bring Your Own
CodeHTTPWhy it happensHow to fix
BYO_PROVIDER_ERROR502Your own model could not answer, and fallback to PCIFIC's models is off. The error identifies the failed AI connection and gives a next step.Check with your provider that your key, its credits and the model are working, then send the request again. To change the key or model, or to switch fallback on, contact PCIFIC support or ask an owner or admin to change fallback in Settings.
BYO_KEY_UNREADABLE502Your requests are set to run on your own model, but PCIFIC can no longer read the key saved for it. Nothing was sent to any model.Contact PCIFIC support so staff can enter your provider key again.

Credits

Live keys spend credits as usual. While your requests run on your own model, the rate for them is lower than the standard one, because you pay your provider for the model. A request that reruns on PCIFIC's models is charged at the standard rate. Your rate is set by PCIFIC and shown in Settings. Test keys spend no credits.

Words used on this page

  • API key: a secret password your server sends with each request. Here it is your key at your own provider.
  • Fallback: running a request on PCIFIC's models when your own model fails.
  • Health check: four small test requests and one full-size review sent to your model before your traffic moves to it.