Signing in

Ptah has two layers of authentication:

1. A Ptah license that controls which app features are unlocked.
2. Provider credentials (API keys or OAuth tokens) that let Ptah talk to the AI services you use.

This page covers both. Neither is required to start using Ptah — the Free tier works out of the box with any provider you configure — but Pro unlocks advanced workflows.

License tiers

Tier	Price	Who it’s for	Key features
Free	$0	Individual developers evaluating Ptah	Chat, agents, plugins, templates, basic MCP
Trial	Free for a limited period	New users who want to test Pro	Every Pro feature, time-limited
Pro	Paid	Professional users and teams	Browser automation, full MCP server, CLI skill sync, enhanced system prompts, priority support

See the pricing page for current trial length and subscription details.

Entering a license key

1. Open Settings → License (or click Enter license key on the welcome screen).
2. Paste the key you received by email.
3. Click Activate.

Ptah validates the key against the license server, then stores it in your operating system’s secure credential store using Electron’s safeStorage API. The key is never written to a plain-text settings file.

Machine binding

A Pro license activates on a limited number of machines. Deactivate an old machine from the license portal before moving to a new one, or contact support if you’ve hit the device limit.

Offline grace period

Ptah re-verifies your license on startup. If your machine is offline or the license server is temporarily unreachable, Ptah continues to work in Pro mode for a 7-day grace period using the last successful verification. After 7 days offline, Pro features gracefully degrade to Free until a successful re-verification.

What Pro unlocks

• Browser automation — drive a bundled Chromium instance from agents (navigate, click, type, capture screenshots, record network traffic, run JS evaluations).
• Built-in MCP server — expose Ptah’s tools (file search, diagnostics, worktrees, browser, agent spawn) to any MCP-compatible client.
• CLI skill sync — keep skill definitions in sync across the Claude CLI, ptah-cli, and the desktop app.
• Enhanced system prompts — richer project-aware prompting for every generated agent.
• Priority support — direct channel for bug reports and feature requests.

Free-tier users see Pro-only features in the UI with a lock icon. Clicking one opens the upgrade flow.

Configuring providers

Ptah ships with first-class support for several AI providers. You only need to configure the ones you plan to use.

Provider	Auth method	Where to get credentials
Claude	API key	Your Anthropic Console
Copilot	OAuth (device flow) or CLI login	Your GitHub account
Codex	API key or CLI login	Your OpenAI dashboard
Gemini	API key	Google AI Studio
Ollama	Local endpoint (no key)	http://localhost:11434 by default
OpenRouter	API key	Your OpenRouter dashboard

Add a provider

1. Open Settings → Providers.
2. Click the provider you want to configure.
3. Paste your API key, or click Sign in to start an OAuth device flow.
4. Click Test connection to verify the credential works.

Where credentials are stored

Provider settings live in ~/.ptah/settings.json — a user-scoped config file outside your project folders. Secrets (API keys, OAuth tokens) are stored via the OS secure credential store, not in plain text in the settings file.

Don’t commit secrets

~/.ptah/settings.json is a user-level file and is never part of your project’s source tree. If you ever copy configuration into a workspace, strip secrets before committing.

Local models with Ollama

If you run models locally with Ollama, Ptah auto-detects a running Ollama daemon on http://localhost:11434. No API key is needed. To point Ptah at a remote or non-default Ollama endpoint, edit the Ollama provider settings and update the base URL.

Starting a trial

If you clicked Start free trial on the welcome screen, Ptah provisions a trial license tied to your email and device. The trial activates immediately — no credit card required. When it ends, Pro features revert to Free behavior and a one-click upgrade link appears in Settings → License.

See ptah.dev/pricing for the current trial length, plan comparison, and team pricing.

Next step

You’re ready to start using Ptah. Head over to the Chat guide to send your first message, or jump to Agents to customize the agents created by the setup wizard.