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Cloud providers & API keys

Everything runs on your PC by default. Online AI providers are an option you turn on yourself.

Turning them on

Turn on Cloud AI providers at the top of the Model tab. Before it turns on, it explains what that means: while an online provider is the LLM server, the text of everything captured is sent to it, handled under its privacy terms and billed to your API key. The popup's footer says Cloud AI providers on while the setting is on.

Once on, the LLM Server menu also lists:

  • Qwen Cloud
  • OpenAI
  • Anthropic Claude
  • DeepSeek
  • Google Gemini
  • xAI Grok

Turned off, they disappear from the menu and translation goes back to LM Studio.

Using one

  1. Pick the provider under LLM Server.
  2. Paste your API key (the Get a key link opens the provider's key page). It's saved as soon as you paste it, and never shown in the field. (A key typed by hand is saved when you press Enter or leave the field.)
  3. Choose a Model: the menu lists the models on your account and has a search box; to use a model the list doesn't show, type its name and pick Use "…".

Speech is still recognised on your PC; only the text of each line (with the previous lines as context) goes to the provider. A wrong key, a used-up quota or another provider error shows as a ⚠ line in the subtitles. Profiles remember the provider and model (never the key); a profile with an online provider uses LM Studio while cloud providers are off, and says so.

Your API keys

  • Where they're kept: the extension's own private storage, in your browser on your PC. Web pages can't read it, and neither can the extension's script inside them.
  • Where they're sent: only to their own provider — through the app server on your PC, which sends a key only to that provider's official HTTPS address.
  • What you see: the popup never shows a saved key, only its last four characters.
  • Where they never appear: profiles, exports, transcripts or the server's log.
  • Deleting them: Saved API Keys (Model tab) lists them. Delete one, or press Clear all API keys twice. Uninstalling the extension also deletes them.

Shared PCs

Keys are stored the way browsers store extension data — not encrypted — so anyone who can use your Windows account could read them. Clear them on a shared PC.

Qwen Cloud

Get a key at home.qwencloud.com/api-keys.

  • LiveTranslate models (qwen3.8-livetranslate-flash-realtime, qwen3.5-…): the tab's audio is streamed to Qwen Cloud, which detects, recognises and translates the speech itself (simultaneous interpretation, 60 input languages; Qwen quotes ~2.3 s average lag). The subtitle grows as the translation streams in. Local speech recognition and LM Studio aren't used; speaker labels still work (they're computed on your PC). A subtitle language must be set. It's billed per second of audio, for as long as captions run.
  • Any other model (e.g. qwen-mt-flash, qwen-plus): speech is recognised on your PC as usual and Qwen Cloud translates the text (Qwen-MT models get their translation options automatically).
  • Endpoint: Qwen Cloud (maas.qwencloudapi.com, the default) or Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (International, US or China).