Connect an AI provider

Requirements: a role that can manage integrations, and an account with the AI provider you are connecting.

Steps

1. Choose a provider. Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI, and Google Gemini are available. If you have no preference, pick the one you already have an account with — you can connect more than one.
2. Create an API key in that provider's own console, under your account. This is done on their side, not in Sonta.
3. Paste the key into the connection. It is stored as a credential, not as a value on a record, and is not shown back to you afterwards.
4. Set a default model, if you want a specific one rather than the provider's default. Model names come from the provider and change over time — take the current name from their documentation rather than from memory.
5. Set a default system prompt, optionally. This is standing context given to the model every time — who the business is, tone to use, rules to respect. It saves repeating the same framing in every use.
6. Confirm it works by using it once, then check the result reads the way you expect.

Bring your own key

The connection uses your provider account, which has three consequences worth being clear about. Usage is billed to you by that provider, at their prices, not through Sonta. Their rate limits and model availability apply as they do to any other application you build. And you keep control: revoke the key on their side and the connection stops working immediately, regardless of anything in Sonta.

What the connection enables

A connected provider is what turns AI from a separate chat window into something acting on your actual records — reading an entry, judging what it needs, and making the change. It is the piece behind an agent working inside your business rather than beside it. Without a provider connected, there is nothing for the AI part of the product to call.

Notes and limitations

• You supply the key and pay the provider. Sonta does not resell model usage.
• Model names belong to the provider and change — check their current list rather than assuming a name still exists.
• Capabilities differ between providers. They are not perfectly interchangeable; if something behaves differently after switching, that is why.
• The key is a credential — stored as one, not readable afterwards. To change it, replace it.
• Connect more than one provider if you want a fallback or want to compare, and set which is used by default.

Related

The full set of connectable services is in integrations overview. What an agent does with the connection is covered in agents and automations, and scoping what it may touch in how access works.