How to get a free API key for Iris Home

Sep 7, 2026

What I want: to tell Iris Home what to do in plain words, for free.

That takes an AI model, and Groq runs one for free. To let Iris Home use it you need an API key, which is a long password Groq hands you. Get the key, paste it into the app. About three minutes.

Step by step

1Sign in to Groq

Go to console.groq.com/home and sign in. I used Google.

Groq console sign-in page with Continue with Google, GitHub, SSO and email buttons

2Open API Keys

Top menu, next to Playground.

Groq console top menu with the API Keys link boxed in red

3Click Create API Key

Top right.

Groq API Keys page, still empty, with the Create API Key button boxed in red

4Name it

I typed iris. Leave Expiration on No expiration. Click Submit.

Create API Key dialog with the display name iris typed in and the Submit button highlighted

5Copy the key

Click Copy. The key starts with gsk_. Groq shows it once.

Doing this on a computer? Message the key to yourself, then copy it on your phone.

Groq showing the new API key, starting with gsk_, with the Copy button highlighted

6Paste it into Iris Home

Tap Settings at the bottom, then AI settings. Set AI model to Custom endpoint and fill in the three boxes. Leave everything else alone.

API base address: https://api.groq.com/openai/v1
API key: paste the one you copied
Model: openai/gpt-oss-20b

Iris Home AI settings with Custom endpoint selected and the Groq address, key and model filled in

7Save

Tap Save. First time? Iris Home asks Use your own AI key? Tap I understand and want to use this.

It then checks the key with Groq. When it says Connected, tap Done.

Not connected? The message says what to fix. Fix it and Save again.

Iris Home test connection sheet reading Connected. This model is ready to use.

What free gets you

Groq’s free plan, for the model above:

1,000 requests a day, 30 a minute
200,000 tokens a day, 8,000 a minute

Each thing you ask Iris Home is one request, sometimes two, and somewhere between 500 and 1,000 tokens. So tokens run out first: two to four hundred commands a day, around ten a minute. Go over and Iris Home stops answering until the minute, or the day, rolls over. There’s no bill. The free plan just stops.

Those are the numbers in September 2026. Groq’s rate limits page has the current ones.

One thing worth knowing

The key is a password. Anyone holding it can use up your free allowance. Don’t paste it in a group chat. If it does get out, delete it under API Keys and make another.

Stuck on a step? Tell me about it.