Models and keys

Choose a model

Three things use a model: Work, Ask Zephium and dictation. You choose the model from the chip in the bar or panel, and in Settings › Models.

• The chip opens a list you can search, with your favourites starred on top and the providers down the side. Each model shows what it can do: Sees images, Searches the web, its context size and its price. Models your plan does not include say so, and offer an upgrade.
• Effort trades speed for depth: Low answers fastest, Medium is quick and considered, High thinks it through, Extra high thinks longer, and Max thinks as long as it takes. Some models decide their own pace.
• Models by role. Work can use a different model for each of three jobs: Work, which plans, searches and makes the result; Pages, which reads and works on web pages and benefits from seeing images; and Quick tasks, which names works and writes short summaries. Each starts on Automatic, which uses the best model from the providers you have keys for, following your Work model's family.

Web search needs a model that can do it: a Claude, GPT, Gemini or Grok model, or an OpenAI key. Models that cannot search say so.

Zephium AI

Zephium AI is the hosted option: sign in and use Zephium's models without keys of your own. It is optional, and everything else in Zephium works the same without an account.

Sign in

1. Choose Sign in to Zephium at the top of Settings, or Sign in… under Zephium AI in Settings › Models.
2. Enter your email address and choose Continue.
3. Enter the 6-digit code we email you. There is no password. If it does not arrive, Send a new code.

Your sign-in stays in your system's secure storage. Each device is listed in Settings › Account under signed-in devices, and you can sign any of them out, or all of them.

Plans and credits

Zephium AI is measured in credits. Each reply shows the model it used and what it cost.

• Free credits are one-time. They do not renew, and Account shows when they expire.
• Pro includes everything in Free and renews its credits every month. Max is five times Pro's usage, with Fable and Astra and early access to new features and versions.
• Yearly billing is 2 months free. Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax, which is added at checkout.
• Included credits are used first. When they run out, Zephium says so and offers Buy credits. Purchased credits are used after your plan's, and each pack shows how many days it lasts.

The bring-your-own-key route below costs nothing from us. You pay your provider, or nobody, when the model runs on your computer.

Your account

Everything about your account is in Settings › Account. Open it from the card at the top of Settings.

• Included credits shows how much of your plan you have used and when it refills, with your purchased credits and any welcome credit beside it. Credits held for a request that is still running are shown as not charged yet.
• Daily limit is optional. Set a number of credits, and Zephium AI pauses for the day once it has used them.
• Usage history lists your credits by task for 7 days, 30 days or all of it. It holds never what you asked or what came back.
• Change plan shows an estimate of what is due today and when it takes effect before you confirm. An upgrade is immediate. A downgrade starts at renewal, and you keep your plan until then. Checkout opens in a new tab and your plan updates here on its own.
• Manage subscription opens the billing portal, where you can update payment, see invoices or cancel. Payments are handled by Polar, and we never see your card.
• You can change your name, photo and email, export your account data as a JSON file, and delete your account. Deleting asks for a code we email you, removes your account, plan and remaining usage, and leaves your browser, keys and local data alone.

What is kept, and what is not, is in the privacy policy and in Privacy and security.

Your own keys

With your own key, requests go from your device straight to the provider, and you pay the provider. No Zephium account is involved.

1. Open Settings › Models. Under Your keys, find the provider. A link there opens the provider's own page for creating a key.
2. Choose Add key, paste it, and choose Save.
3. Choose Test. It reports Key works, or that the provider refused it.

Keys are saved in your system's credential store, and each one is sent only to its own provider. Replace key… and Remove key are in the same row. With a key added, its models appear in the model chip, and you can choose them by role.

Models on your computer

A local model runs on your own hardware. Nothing about your work leaves the computer. It is slower, has a smaller context, and cannot search the web.

1. Start Ollama or LM Studio. Zephium notices a running one and offers Use Ollama on this computer or Use LM Studio on this computer.
2. Or choose Set up next to a custom server and give its address and, if it needs one, a key. Use an https address, or http on this computer. Any OpenAI-compatible server works.

Dictation

Dictate in the Work bar with the microphone or ⌘⇧D (CtrlShiftD). Audio is never saved, and the words land in the bar for you to check before sending. Recordings can run up to four minutes.

In Settings › Models choose the Dictation engine and the language you speak:

• On this Mac or On this device is private and works offline. Your voice never leaves the computer. If it cannot recognise your language, Zephium falls back to another engine and says so.
• Zephium AI, or your own OpenAI or Groq key, sends the audio there to be transcribed, then discards it.

Page decisions

Page decisions is how Work turns what it sees on a page into the next step. You can leave it alone. It is under Settings › Models:

• Recommended uses Jev, which gives fast typed decisions through TypeSafe, when its key is saved on this device. Without that key, Work uses Standard.
• Standard uses OpenAI only.
• Off means no typed decisions, and the page model plans every step.

Without any model

Zephium is a complete browser with AI off. In Settings › Features the AI switch removes models, agents and dictation, and the Work switch removes Work alone. Your keys stay saved and nothing is deleted.