When you turn on the AI Superpower for an app, the first question is: who's paying the AI bill?
Each app gets one of two modes. You pick it when you set up the AI Superpower; you can change it later from the same place.
Use My AI Key
Your connected AI key powers the app for everyone who opens it. You pay the provider directly. Teacher Hive enforces a daily dollar cap you set per app, so a runaway prompt or a popular link can't drain your account.
Best for apps you share with students. They don't see anything about the key. The AI just works.
Settings you control:
- Daily spending cap (dollars, resets at midnight UTC)
- Per-guest rate limit (default 30 calls per hour, prevents one guest from eating your cap)
- Max tokens per call (caps how long a single AI response can be)
Set a monthly cap at your AI provider too
Teacher Hive's daily cap is based on estimated costs, and it only covers AI calls made through Teacher Hive itself. Anything else on the same provider key, like another tool, a personal project, or a key someone got hold of, still gets billed to you without Teacher Hive seeing it. A second cap at the provider closes that gap. All three providers offer one for free, and the caps reset at the start of each calendar month.
OpenAI: sign in at platform.openai.com, open Settings, then Billing, then Limits. There is usually a soft "monthly budget" (sends an email alert) and a hard "usage limit" (stops API calls). Set both, with the usage limit at or slightly above the budget.
Anthropic: sign in at console.anthropic.com, open Settings, then Billing. Look for a "Workspace spend limit" or "Monthly limit" option and enter a dollar amount. API calls return an error once you hit it.
Google Gemini: Gemini billing runs through Google Cloud, not the AI Studio where you got the key. Sign in at console.cloud.google.com/billing, open your billing account, then Budgets & alerts, then Create Budget. Pick the project that holds your Gemini API key, set a monthly amount, and add email alerts at 50%, 90%, and 100%. Heads up: Google's budget alerts are emails only and won't automatically stop API calls. Keep the budget low enough that you will notice the alert quickly, then disable billing or rotate your key if usage looks wrong.
Use Their AI Key
The first time a guest tries to use AI in the app (clicking a generate button, asking a question, anything that triggers an AI call), Teacher Hive pops up a dialog asking them to pick a provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Gemini) and paste their key. The key is saved only in their browser, so when they come back on the same device, the prompt doesn't appear again and AI just works. You don't pay for any AI usage. Teacher Hive sends each call to the provider on the guest's behalf using their key.
Best for apps you share with other teachers. They paste once and the app remembers their key on their device. You don't set a spending cap in this mode because you're not paying. Each guest pays for their own use. They can check their estimated AI spend for that app by clicking Manage AI Settings within the app.
Which to pick
- Students will use this app, use My AI Key. Students should not be entering API keys.
- Teachers will use this app, use Their AI Key, or use yours if the app is small enough that your daily cap covers everyone.
- You want zero AI cost on your account, use Their AI Key.
Picking a model in each mode
In Use My AI Key mode, you pick the model and provider when you build the app. Students get whichever you chose. The dropdown shows only the providers you've connected at My Settings · AI Provider Keys.
In Use Their AI Key mode, the guest's choice of provider and model is part of their key. Whichever AI service their key is for, that's the AI the app uses.
Changing modes later
Open the app in the Add App modal, find the AI Superpower section, and click Change next to the current mode. You can switch back and forth. Your guest will see the new mode the next time they open the link.
