SSalesCrew

AI · 5 min · reviewed 2026-09-06

Should I use managed AI or bring my own Anthropic key?

Managed is the default: AI features draw from the credits in your plan and need no setup. Bring your own key (BYOK) when you want your own Anthropic billing, higher limits, or your data under your own account. The daily USD cap applies either way.

What you will need

  • Admin role in SalesCrew.
  • For BYOK: a key from https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys with billing enabled.

Steps

  1. 1

    Step 1

    Settings → AI → Key mode.

  2. 2

    Step 2

    Managed: leave it selected. Credits show in the top bar; the monthly allowance is set by your plan.

  3. 3

    Step 3

    Bring your own key: select it, paste the key (sk-ant-…), click Save. The key goes to the encrypted vault and is only read by the server.

  4. 4

    Step 4

    Set Daily cap (USD) to what you are comfortable spending. Alerts fire at the percentage you choose.

  5. 5

    Step 5

    Click Test connection.

Common errors

Test fails with ai_key_missing
BYOK is selected but the key was not saved.
429 rate limited
a new Anthropic account has low limits for the first days. Managed mode has none.
Credits ran out
raise the cap or switch to BYOK. Features pause; nothing breaks.

How you know it worked

Test connection shows the model name and latency. The Last 7 days card starts counting calls.

Where this goes in SalesCrew

Settings → AI → Test connection shows the model and latency. In your own workspace the same how-to opens beside the field, with your callback URLs filled in.

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