Why API keys are a different surface entirely

If you are not using tCode itself but instead building your own separate tool or integration that calls tAI models directly and programmatically, API keys and usage tracking for that live at console.artfical.com, entirely separately.

This is a different surface built for a genuinely different purpose: it is where you would go to obtain a key for a script or a service you are writing yourself, not something tCode itself needs or uses for its own sign-in.

If you have never written your own program that calls tAI directly, there is a good chance you will never need to visit console.artfical.com at all, regardless of how much you use tCode day to day.

The two are billed and tracked completely separately as well; usage through a console.artfical.com API key does not draw against the same plan or limits that tCode and the browser share, since it is a distinct product surface with its own pricing.

console.artfical.com is worth knowing exists even if you never end up using it, simply so a mention of "the API" elsewhere does not get confused with tCode's own sign-in, which is what the next section addresses directly.