Connect Claude to Reduz.

Theo uses Claude for research-paper summaries because Sonnet 4.6 preserves technical nuance and produces well-structured outputs. Anya uses Haiku 4.5 for daily-volume article summarization. Quality is excellent and Anthropic API pricing is competitive at scale. This guide walks through connecting your Anthropic Claude API key to Reduz so summaries go directly from your tab to Anthropic Claude. No Reduz server in the middle. Setup takes about two minutes once you have a key.

Setup steps

1. 1

   Create an API key in the Anthropic Console

   Open https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys and sign in to your Anthropic Claude account. Click "Create new key" (label varies by provider) and copy the key value. Most provider keys start with "sk-" and are 30+ characters long. Treat the key like a password. Anyone with the key can spend on your account.

2. 2

   Install Reduz from the Chrome Web Store

   If you haven't already, install the Reduz extension from the Chrome Web Store. The extension runs entirely on your device and uses click-only access. It can only read a page when you click it.

3. 3

   Open Reduz extension settings

   Click the Reduz toolbar icon, then the settings gear. Scroll to the AI provider section. Each supported provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI) has its own row with a key field and a model selector.

4. 4

   Select Your own AI key as the active mode

   In the mode chooser, select Your own AI key. This tells Reduz to use your provider key instead of free credits. You can switch back to free credits at any time without losing your saved keys.

5. 5

   Paste the Claude key in the matching row

   Find the Claude provider row in extension settings and paste your API key. Make sure you paste it into the Claude row, not OpenAI or Anthropic. Keys in the wrong row will fail authentication. The key is stored in Chrome extension storage on your device and is never sent to a Reduz server.

6. 6

   Choose a Claude model

   Pick the model variant from the dropdown. See the Model selection section below for recommendations on which model fits which workload.

7. 7

   Run the built-in connection test

   Click "Test connection" on the provider row. Reduz sends a tiny test request to validate that the key is active, the account has usable balance, and the selected model is available. Success means you're ready to summarize.

8. 8

   Summarize a non-sensitive source first

   For your first BYOK request, pick a public article or a YouTube video with captions. Confirm the output quality matches expectations and check the response time. Once you're comfortable, scale up to PDFs and longer sources.

Why bring your own Claude key

Claude is widely regarded as the strongest summarization-quality model family, especially for long technical content, research papers, and structured outputs where preserving claim/method/finding/limitation structure matters. Using your own key means your prompts go directly from your tab to Anthropic's API. No extra server sees the source text. You pay Anthropic's API rates directly (no subscription markup), and Anthropic's prompt caching can substantially reduce per-request cost when you re-summarize the same source in different output styles.

Model selection

Reduz defaults to Claude Sonnet 4.6 for Anthropic as the daily-volume balance. Claude Opus 4.7 handles the hardest content where reasoning depth matters most. Claude Haiku 4.5 is the cheapest option for short articles and casual use. Switch models in extension settings without changing the source workflow.

Cost expectations

Anthropic bills usage to your Anthropic account at standard API rates. A typical 3,000-word article on Haiku 4.5 runs pennies; a 30-page research paper on Sonnet 4.6 runs $0.10-0.40 depending on output length. Anthropic prompt caching reduces effective cost on cache hits, which is useful when you summarize the same source in multiple output styles within 5 minutes. For tighter cost control on long PDFs and transcripts, use Reduz's content-limit setting to cap token usage per request.

Free tier availability

Anthropic offers small starter credit for new API accounts ($5 free credit at signup at time of writing), which is enough to test the connection across many summaries before paying. After the starter credit, you need to add a payment method at console.anthropic.com to continue. If you want a longer-running free path, use Reduz free credits (100 a month, no card) instead.

Privacy posture for source text

When you use your own AI key, your Anthropic API key stays in Chrome extension storage on your device. Reduz never sees it. Source text goes directly from your tab to Anthropic's API. The Reduz server is not in the request path. Anthropic's API policy is that prompts submitted via the API are not used to train Claude models by default. This is different from the consumer Claude product, which has separate data policies. For comparison, free credits send source text through Reduz (with an installation identifier for credit counting) to a hosted AI model. That is useful when you do not want to manage a provider key, but it is a different data path than using your own key.

Practical checklist

• Create the key at https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys and copy it once. Most consoles only show full keys at creation time.
• Treat the key like a password. Do not paste it into shared documents, screenshots, or cloud notes.
• Paste the key into the Claude row in Reduz extension settings, not into a different provider row.
• Switch to your own AI key mode before running the first request.
• Pick the Claude model that fits your workload (see Model selection above).
• Run the connection test before summarizing real content.
• Summarize a non-sensitive source first to validate output quality and cost.
• Consider scoping the key to a small monthly budget at the provider for safety.

Frequently asked questions