How to set up AI Chat in Yoki

Yoki ships with an AI Chat window you can open from any app with a single shortcut. You choose who runs the model: the Yoki Pro provider (no key needed, included with Pro), your own API key to one of the big providers, or a local Ollama instance so no prompt ever leaves your machine. This guide walks through both paths.

Open AI Chat

AI Chat has its own dedicated shortcut so it never collides with the main launcher.

  1. Press Alt+A
    From any app, press Alt+A. The AI Chat window opens instantly and focuses the message box. Type your question and press Enter to stream the answer.
  2. Pick a provider
    The first time you open AI Chat, Yoki prompts you to choose a provider. You can change it later from Settings › AI.
  3. Enter credentials (BYOK only)
    If you pick a BYOK provider, paste your API key in Settings › AI. Keys are stored locally and encrypted. Yoki Pro provider needs no key — it’s tied to your Pro subscription.

Alt + A

Supported providers

You can switch providers at any time without losing your chat history.

Yoki Pro
Included free with Yoki Pro. No API key, no setup — chat works the moment you sign in.
Gemini (BYOK)
Use your own Google AI Studio key. Fast and low-cost for general questions.
OpenAI (BYOK)
Use your own OpenAI key. Required for DALL-E image generation inside chat.
Anthropic (BYOK)
Use your own Claude key for long-context reasoning.
Groq (BYOK)
Use your own Groq key for extremely fast streaming.
OpenRouter (BYOK)
One key, many models. Route to any model OpenRouter supports.
Ollama (local)
Run any Ollama model on your own machine. Point Yoki at http://localhost:11434 and nothing leaves your PC.

What you get

The same feature set is available across providers (subject to what each model supports):

  • Streaming responses — tokens appear as they are generated.
  • Vision — drop a screenshot and ask about it.
  • Tool calling — AI can create timers, macros, and notes via Apply cards.
  • Web search grounding — fresh answers with citations.
  • Attach PDF, CSV, code files (15-language syntax highlight).
  • Image generation with DALL-E (when using the OpenAI BYOK path).
  • Multi-chat sidebar — pin, rename, export, search past chats.
  • 8 built-in AI commands from the main search bar (fix grammar, explain code, summarize, translate, and more).
  • Personas — "be a lawyer and review this contract".
Related shortcuts
All Yoki commands and shortcutsDownload Yoki for Windows