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AI setup and models3 min readUpdated August 10, 2026

Set up AI: Grape AI or your own key

The two ways to power the AI features, and which plans include which.

AI features are on the Pro and Lifetime plans, and there are two ways to run them.

Grape AI

Included with the Pro subscription. Nothing to configure, no keys to manage, no separate provider bill. Turn it on in Settings under Models and chat, transcription, search and the study tools all work.

Your own API key

Available on both Pro and Lifetime. Open Settings, go to Models, enable a provider and paste your key. Grape supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI Studio, Groq, DeepSeek, xAI, OpenRouter, and any OpenAI compatible endpoint as a custom provider. On desktop you can also run local models through Ollama or LM Studio.

Three kinds of models

The Models tab separates chat models, transcription models and indexing models, because they do different jobs. Chat powers the assistant, transcription turns audio into text, and indexing builds the semantic search index. Enable one of each from whichever providers you use.

Changing your mind

Switch providers whenever you like. The notes themselves do not depend on which model you used, so nothing needs converting when you move from one provider to another.

Try It While the Guide Is Open

Grape is free to install and needs no account, so you can follow along in the real app.