🔑 Getting Your OpenAI API Key

Time to get your hands on the magic key! 🗝️

This process is straightforward, but there are a few gotchas that catch everyone. I’ll walk you through each step so you don’t get stuck.

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🎥 Video Walkthrough

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🎯 What You Need First

Before we start, make sure you have:

• Valid email address (for account creation)
• Real mobile phone number (VOIP numbers get rejected)
• Credit/debit card (for the $5 minimum credit)

Important: Use your actual phone number, not a Google Voice or similar service. OpenAI is strict about this.

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🚀 Step 1: Create Your Account

1. Go to platform.openai.com
2. Click Sign up and create your account
3. Verify your email (check your inbox for the link)

Nothing tricky here - standard account creation.

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📱 Step 2: Verify Your Phone

This is where some people get stuck:

1. In your dashboard, look for “Add phone number”
2. Enter your real mobile number (not VOIP)
3. Enter the 6-digit SMS code you receive

Why this matters: No phone verification = no API access. OpenAI uses this to prevent abuse.

One phone per account - so if you mess up, you might need a different number.

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🔑 Step 3: Generate Your API Key

Now for the good stuff:

1. Click “API keys” in the left sidebar
2. Click ”+ Create new secret key”
3. Give it a name like learning-project or chat-app-dev
4. Choose “Default project” for now
5. Click “Create secret key”

CRITICAL: Copy the key immediately! You’ll never see it again.

Store it safely:

# In your .env file
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-abc123...

Security warning: Never commit this key to GitHub or share it publicly. Seriously - people scan for these keys and will use your credits.

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💳 Step 4: Add $5 Credit (Required)

Here’s the part that surprises everyone - you must add money before your key works:

1. Go to “Billing” → “Payment methods”
2. Click “Add payment method” and add your card
3. Go to “Billing” → “Credits”
4. Click “Add credits” → Enter $5 → Purchase

Without this $5, your API calls will fail with an error like:

invalid_request_error: Must add funds first

Good news: $5 lasts a long time while learning. You’ll probably spend $0.50-$2.00 going through this entire course.

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🛡️ Step 5: Set Up Protection

Before you start coding, protect yourself:

Set spending limits:

1. Go to “Billing” → “Limits”
2. Set a monthly limit of $20-30
3. Set usage notifications at 50% and 80%

Why this matters: I’ve seen developers accidentally spend $200+ in a day. Don’t be that person.

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✅ Quick Test

Let’s verify everything works. Open your terminal and run:

curl https://api.openai.com/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

Success looks like:

{
  "data": [
    {"id": "gpt-4o-mini", "object": "model", ...},
    {"id": "gpt-4o", "object": "model", ...}
  ]
}

If you get an error, double-check:

• ✅ Phone number verified
• ✅ $5 credit added
• ✅ API key copied correctly

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🔒 Key Security Best Practices

DO:

• Store keys in environment variables
• Use different keys for development/production
• Rotate keys every few months
• Monitor usage regularly

DON’T:

• Hard-code keys in your source code
• Commit keys to version control
• Share keys in screenshots or demos
• Use the same key across multiple projects

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Perfect! Your API key is ready. 🎉

What’s next? We’ll build a Node.js backend and make your first AI API call. Time to see this thing in action!

👉 Next: Setting Up Your Backend - Let’s write some code!