Create your free AI API-Key with Groq to use in ScaleCraft Deep Checks

This guide will walk you through creating a free Groq API key and connecting it to ScaleCraft in less than five minutes. No credit card is required. Let's start with a few quick FAQs

What is Groq API?

Groq is an AI inference platform that lets developers run popular models such as Llama and Whisper through a simple API. It's known for extremely low latency thanks to its custom Language Processing Unit (LPU) hardware and is compatible with the OpenAI API format, making it easy to integrate into existing applications.

Is Groq API Free ?

Yes, the Groq API has a free tier that requires no credit card and provides access to models like Llama and Whisper. The free tier is limited by request and rate limits instead of requiring payment or a prepaid token balance.

What models do I get with groq free tier & what about the usage limits?

At the time of writing, Groq offers several production-ready models on its free tier, including:

• Llama 3.3 70B — Excellent all-round model for chat, reasoning, and coding.
• GPT OSS 120B — OpenAI's flagship open-weight reasoning model.
• GPT OSS 20B — Faster and more lightweight than the 120B model.
• Llama 3.1 8B — Extremely fast and ideal for lightweight tasks.
• Whisper Large V3 — Speech-to-text transcription.
• Whisper Large V3 Turbo — Faster speech transcription with lower latency.

What about the limits?

The free tier is generous enough for personal projects, learning, and experimentation, but it isn't unlimited. Limits vary by model and are measured using requests and token quotas (such as Requests Per Minute, Requests Per Day, Tokens Per Minute, and Tokens Per Day). For example, many text-generation models allow around 30 requests per minute, with daily token/request quotas depending on the model. If you exceed these limits, you'll simply need to wait for the quota to reset or upgrade to the Developer plan.

My experience:_ I've found the free tier to be more than sufficient for hobby projects, personal applications like ScaleCraft, and experimenting with AI-powered features. Unless you're building a production service with heavy traffic, you're unlikely to hit the limits during normal development._

Why does ScaleCraft ask for my own API key instead of providing one?

ScaleCraft uses a Bring Your Own API Key (BYOK) approach. This allows you to use your own free or paid AI provider without requiring a ScaleCraft subscription, keeps your requests under your own account and usage limits, and ensures your API key never passes through ScaleCraft's servers.

Great! How do I create a free Groq API-Key?

1. Visit: https://console.groq.com/keys & login don't worry you will not be asked to provide your credit card or other information for billing, you can sign-in directly via gmail or other OAuth providers.
2. Go to the API-Keys section if not already there.
3. Select the Create API Key button.
4. A pop-up modal appears with settings to configure the "Display Name" and "Expiration" duration, set them as you like. Click on Submit once you're done.
5. Copy the API key and store it somewhere safe. This is the only time Groq will display the key, so make sure you don't lose it.
6. You now have your API key, use it as you wish.
7. You can also explore the Dashboard to monitor your usage, logs, metrics, and batches.
8. You can visit the docs Tab, go to the models section to check the list of models available for you to use.

Perfect now I have the API-Key how do I use it in ScaleCraft ?

1. Log into ScaleCraft & select any of the modes.
2. Click on the Deep Check tab in the top-bar it should be a star icon.
3. Once in the Deep Check tab, open the settings option, it should be a gear icon in the top right.
4. In the settings pane you will see several options Provider: Add the Provider name here in our case this will be OpenAI-Compatible Base URL: Add the following here: https://api.groq.com/openai/v1 Model: Enter the exact model ID you want to use (for example: openai/gpt-oss-120b). API Key: Paste the key you created above
5. You can customize the output from your model by adjusting the following: Depth: Controls the output length from the model. Tone: The manner in which the AI model replies. Level: Uour understanding level.
6. Once done Test your api key with the Test Connection button, if it returns "Connected" click save you are good to go, if not resolve the errors as per ScaleCraft docs or Groq docs.
7. You can also create multiple AI profiles if you use different AI providers. For example, you might have a Groq API key, an OpenAI API key, an OpenRouter API key, or another OpenAI-compatible provider. Each profile stores its own provider, model, API key, and settings, allowing you to switch between them with a single click.
8. Note: You only need one Groq API key to access all of Groq's available models. Simply select a different model within the same profile — there's no need to create a separate profile for each Groq model.
9. Return to the Deep Check panel (or click the ⭐ Deep Check button if you're back on the canvas) and run a Deep Check. ScaleCraft will now use your selected AI profile to generate a detailed analysis of your system design.
10. 🔒 Privacy Notice Your API keys are never sent to or stored on ScaleCraft servers. They are stored locally in your browser and used only to communicate directly with your chosen AI provider. Because they're stored locally, clearing your browser data or local storage may remove your saved AI profiles. Be sure to keep a backup of your API keys somewhere safe.

Enjoy!