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Connecting a model to Trilix: free trial, one-click sign-in, or your own key

Four ways to run AI models in Trilix, from zero setup to full control, plus where your keys are kept and how to fix common errors.

Alireza Ataei5 min read

Trilix doesn't sell model access. It is a workspace that sends your prompts to the model provider you choose. You decide whose model runs your nodes and who pays for it, which is often nobody.

There are four ways to connect a model. They range from no setup at all to full control:

Option What you need Cost to you Good for
Free trial A GitHub or Google sign-in Free, a few runs a day Trying Trilix in two minutes
Connect OpenRouter An OpenRouter account Free models, or pay per use Many models behind one sign-in
Connect Cloudflare A Cloudflare account Free daily allowance A generous free tier of your own
Your own API key A key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google… Your provider's prices The best models, full control

Where to find it

Open the workspace. In the top-right corner there are two boxes:

  • The sign-in box. If you aren't signed in, it shows Go to login.
  • The LLM Profile panel, where providers are set up. Click Expand if it is collapsed. The row of provider chips under Ready Providers picks which provider you are editing.

Option 1: the free trial (no key at all)

  1. Click Go to login and sign in with GitHub or Google.
  2. Back in the workspace, the LLM Profile panel shows how many free model runs you have left today. If you haven't set up anything else, the trial is switched on for you. Otherwise, click Use free trial.
  3. Run any node.

The allowance resets every day at 00:00 UTC. Trilix picks the trial model and limits answer length, and every trial user shares the same daily capacity. If you see "The free trial is at capacity", try again later or use one of the options below.

Option 2: Connect OpenRouter

OpenRouter gives you hundreds of models from many providers behind one account, including a set of free ones.

  1. In the LLM Profile panel, click the OpenRouter chip.
  2. Click Connect OpenRouter, sign in on openrouter.ai, and approve.
  3. You return to Trilix with a key that belongs to your OpenRouter account. Nothing to copy or paste.

The default model, openrouter/free, picks a free model for each request. Free models allow roughly 50 requests a day per account. Two things to know:

  • Free models and privacy settings. Many free models are only offered if your account allows prompts to be used for training. If you see "OpenRouter has no endpoint for this model under your account's privacy settings", change that at openrouter.ai/settings/privacy or pick a paid model.
  • Paid models need credits and the full model name. On OpenRouter, model names include the company, for example openai/gpt-5-nano rather than gpt-5-nano. With no credits on the account, a paid model fails with "Not enough credits".

Option 3: Connect Cloudflare

Every Cloudflare account gets a free daily allowance of Workers AI usage (10,000 "Neurons" a day). That is typically dozens of runs a day on capable open models such as Llama and GPT-OSS.

  1. Click the Cloudflare Workers AI chip.
  2. Click Connect Cloudflare, sign in on dash.cloudflare.com, choose the account to use, and approve.
  3. You return to Trilix connected. The panel shows the account name, and you can switch accounts if you have several.

Trilix asks only for permission to run Workers AI models and to read your account ID. Cloudflare sign-ins expire after a while. If a run says "Your Cloudflare sign-in expired", click Reconnect Cloudflare. You can also skip the sign-in and paste a Cloudflare API token with Workers AI permission, plus your account ID, into the same form.

Option 4: your own API key

For OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and the rest, paste a key from the provider's dashboard:

  1. Click the provider's chip.

  2. Paste the key into API key / token. Some providers need an extra field:

    Provider Extra fields
    OpenAI, Anthropic, Google None
    Azure OpenAI Endpoint and deployment name
    Cloudflare Workers AI Cloudflare account ID
    OpenAI-Compatible (Groq, Together, a self-hosted server…) Base URL
    Ollama (models running on your own computer) Host and port, no key

  3. Optionally set a Default model, for example gpt-4.1-mini or claude-3-5-sonnet-latest.

  4. Click Save Profile, then Test connection. A green "Connected" means you're set.

Test all ready checks every provider you have saved at once.

Running several providers side by side

You can save as many providers as you like. Every saved provider shows up in each node's model picker as model · provider, so one branch can run Claude while its sibling runs a free Llama model. Each node always uses its own provider's credentials.

Where your keys are kept

Your keys and sign-ins are stored only in this browser (in local storage). They are not saved on Trilix servers. Most requests go straight from your browser to the provider. Cloudflare doesn't accept calls directly from a browser, so Cloudflare runs pass through Trilix's server on the way, without being stored or logged. Free-trial runs use Trilix's own key, so they go through Trilix's server too.

This has two consequences:

  • A different browser or device starts empty. Connect again there.
  • Clearing site data for Trilix removes your keys. On a shared computer, click Clear for each provider when you're done.

When something goes wrong

Error messages say what the provider reported, so the fix is usually in the message:

Message starts with What to do
Authentication failed… (HTTP 401) The key is wrong or revoked. Paste it again, or click Reconnect.
Not enough credits… (HTTP 402) Add credits with the provider, or choose a free model.
…rejected the request… is not a valid model ID Check the model name, e.g. openai/gpt-5-nano on OpenRouter.
Quota or rate limit reached… (HTTP 429) Wait a minute, or switch to another provider.
Your Cloudflare sign-in expired Click Reconnect Cloudflare.
You've used all … free trial runs for today Wait for the 00:00 UTC reset, or connect a provider.

Which one should I pick?

If you just want to see what Trilix does, use the free trial. When you start using it every day, Connect Cloudflare or Connect OpenRouter gives you your own free allowance in one click. When you need the strongest models, add your own key. You can have all of them at once and choose per node.

Open the workspace and connect your first model.

getting startedapi keysopenroutercloudflare