✨ Connecting Claude Or OpenAI

Every AI feature in ResultsAiX Mailer runs on your own key from Anthropic (who make Claude) or OpenAI. You connect the key once in AI Studio, and from then on subject lines, Write With AI, the AI Helper, Build me a form, the automation builder and Train Your AI all use it. You pay the provider directly at their own published rates, and the key stays in your own WordPress database.

Where to find it:

AI Setup, then AI Studio. The screen has four parts: the two key cards (Anthropic Claude and OpenAI) with the steps to get a key, Configuration, AI usage, and a short list of what you can do with AI.

Getting a Claude key:

1. Open console.anthropic.com/settings/keys and sign in or create an account.
2. Click Create Key and give it a name you will recognise, for example "ResultsAiX Mailer".
3. Copy the key. A Claude key starts with sk-ant-.
4. Add some credit in the Billing part of the Anthropic console, so the key can answer.

Getting an OpenAI key:

1. Open platform.openai.com/api-keys and sign in.
2. Click + Create new secret key, name it, and copy it. An OpenAI key starts with sk-.
3. Add credit to your OpenAI balance in its Billing settings.

You only need one of the two. Many people use Claude as the main provider and add OpenAI as the fallback.

Adding the key:

1. Go to AI Setup, then AI Studio, and scroll to Configuration.
2. Paste the key into API Key under Anthropic Claude (or under OpenAI).
3. Pick a Model beside it.
4. Click 🧪 Test Claude connection (or 🧪 Test OpenAI connection). The test sends a tiny prompt and shows "✓ Connected!" with the reply, how many milliseconds it took and the tokens in and out. The test also stores the key and model you typed.
5. Click 💾 Save & test AI settings at the bottom to store the rest of the settings on the screen.

Once a key is saved, its box stays empty on purpose. The placeholder shows only the first and last four characters, for example "Saved: sk-a…Qx7m. Leave blank to keep it.", so the key never appears in the page or in a screenshot. Leave the box empty to keep the saved key, paste a new key to replace it, or tick Remove the saved Claude key (or Remove the saved OpenAI key) and save. With the box empty, the test button checks the saved key.

Every setting:

• Enable AI features: keep this ticked. The AI part of the inbox score reads it. The other AI features work whenever a key is saved.
• Primary provider: Claude (Anthropic) or OpenAI. This one answers every AI request first.
• Fallback provider (optional): the other provider, or None. It is used automatically when the primary fails (rate limit, outage, error), but only when it is a different provider and it has a key saved.
• API Key: one box per provider, as described above.
• Model: the model that provider uses for everything in the Mailer.
• Subject-line variants per request: how many subject lines the AI writes each time you ask, from 3 to 30. 10 is a good number.
• Monthly soft budget (USD): when this month's estimated AI spend reaches the number, AI Studio shows a heads-up at the top of AI usage. Nothing is ever blocked; the hard limit is the one you set with your provider. 0 switches the heads-up off.
• Auto A/B-test subject lines: sends subject line variants to 20% of the audience first, then the winner goes to the remaining 80%.

Choosing your model:

The Model dropdowns list these models, in this order.

Anthropic Claude:

• Claude Opus 5.5 (newest, best quality)
• Claude Sonnet 5.5 (near-Opus quality)
• Claude Opus 5
• Claude Opus 4.8
• Claude Opus 4.7
• Claude Sonnet 5
• Claude Sonnet 4.6 (balanced)
• Claude Haiku 4.5 (fastest)

OpenAI:

• GPT-5 mini
• GPT-6 Sol (newest)
• GPT-5.6 Terra
• GPT-4o
• GPT-4o mini (fast)

The Claude card suggests Claude Opus 5 for the highest quality and Claude Haiku 4.5 for speed. The hint under the dropdown sums it up: Opus for premium copywriting, Sonnet for everyday jobs, Haiku for high volume. Each option in the dropdown also shows the provider's current rate per million tokens.

If a provider retires the model you picked, your saved model still shows in the dropdown, marked "(your saved model)", and requests go to its successor: an older Claude 3 model is answered by Claude Sonnet 5.5, and a retired OpenAI model is answered by GPT-5 mini (the dropdown says "retiring, GPT-5 mini answers instead"). Nothing stops working while you choose a new one.

Advanced: custom API address:

Click Advanced: custom API address to open it. Leave both boxes empty to connect straight to Anthropic and OpenAI. Fill one in only if you send AI requests through your own gateway or proxy.

• Claude custom API address: replaces https://api.anthropic.com/v1. The request path (/messages) is added to it.
• OpenAI custom API address: replaces https://api.openai.com/v1. The request path (/chat/completions) is added to it.
• The address must start with https:// (http:// is accepted only for localhost, 127.0.0.1, ::1 or a .local hostname), with nothing after a ? or #.
• If an address does not pass that check, everything else is saved, the old address is kept, and the reason is shown at the top of the screen.
• A developer can set the address in wp-config.php instead, with RAIX_AI_BASE_ANTHROPIC or RAIX_AI_BASE_OPENAI. The screen then shows which address is in use.

When a custom address is active, each key card shows "via" and the address next to its status.

The AI usage panel:

Under Configuration, AI usage shows Total jobs, Last 30 days, Spend (30d) and Errors (30d). Below that, Recent AI jobs lists the last ten jobs with Type, Status, Model, Cost, Duration and When. A job that did not finish gets a second line starting "Why:" with the provider's own words, so you know exactly what to fix.

A real example:

Anna at Leafwise Gardening (yoursite.com) wants Claude for everything and OpenAI as a safety net.

1. She creates a Claude key named "Leafwise Mailer", pastes it under Anthropic Claude and picks Claude Sonnet 4.6.
2. She clicks 🧪 Test Claude connection and sees "✓ Connected!".
3. She adds an OpenAI key, picks GPT-4o and tests it the same way.
4. She sets Primary provider to Claude (Anthropic) and Fallback provider to OpenAI.
5. She sets Monthly soft budget (USD) to 20 and clicks 💾 Save & test AI settings.

If Claude is ever busy, OpenAI answers instead, and the AI Helper keeps working.

If something does not look right:

• If the test shows a red message, read it: it is the provider's own reply. Check the key was copied in full and that the account has credit, then test again.
• If both providers fail, the message starts with the primary provider's reason, then the fallback's, so you can fix the main one first.
• If AI buttons do not appear on other screens, check a key is saved here. AI panels only show once a key is connected.

Tips:

• Train the AI on your own emails next, so everything it writes sounds like you. See Train Your AI: Emails In Your Own Voice.
• Once a key is saved, the ✨ AI Helper appears on every Mailer screen. See The AI Helper: Ask It, Or Tell It To Build.
• For subject lines and the inbox score, see AI Subject Lines, Rewriting And Inbox Score.