Use your ChatGPT plan

SearchAF can answer questions about your files using the ChatGPT plan you already have. You sign in with ChatGPT once, and there is no API key to create or paste.

Before you start

You will need a ChatGPT account on an eligible plan. OpenAI decides which plans qualify and keeps the current list on its Sign in with ChatGPT page. Answers count toward the usage already included in your plan. SearchAF adds no charge of its own.

Finding files does not need any of this. Search works the same whether or not you set up answers.

Sign in

Open Settings with ⌘ , and choose Answers. If you are setting up SearchAF for the first time, the same choice appears on the Ask questions about your files step.
Choose Use your ChatGPT plan, then Continue with ChatGPT. Your browser opens to ChatGPT's own sign-in page.
Sign in and approve the request to let SearchAF use your plan. The browser then tells you to go back to SearchAF. If you closed the tab too early, SearchAF has an Open the sign-in page again button.
SearchAF checks the connection with one short test request. It sends no files and none of your questions. When that passes, click Got it on the confirmation and you are done.

From then on, press ⌘ ↩ on any search to ask. The line under the question box reads Using ChatGPT plan whenever ChatGPT is the one answering.

What goes to OpenAI

SearchAF still finds and reads your files on your device. When you ask a question, it picks the passages that bear on it and sends those to OpenAI along with the question.

Sent to OpenAI: Your question, the conversation so far, and the parts of your files used to answer it.
Stays on your device: Your index, and every file SearchAF did not need for that answer.
How it travels: Straight from your device to OpenAI. Nothing passes through Antfly, and SearchAF asks OpenAI not to store the request.
What SearchAF can see: Your email address and the models on your account. It cannot read your ChatGPT conversations or memories.

The sign-in is stored in the macOS Keychain. What OpenAI does with what it receives is covered by OpenAI's terms for your plan.

Change the model

SearchAF starts with the first model your account offers. To pick another, open Settings, choose Answers, and use the Model menu. The list comes from your ChatGPT account, so it shows only models your plan includes.

Usage limits

Manage usage, in Settings and under the question box, opens the usage page in your ChatGPT settings. There you can see how much of your plan SearchAF has used and set a limit for it.

If you reach a limit, SearchAF says so and keeps the notice up until an answer goes through again. An answer that was cut off partway is marked Interrupted so it is not mistaken for a finished one. SearchAF never switches to another provider or charges an API key on its own.

Switch accounts or sign out

Use a different account: Runs the sign-in again. The account you were using stays active until the new one is confirmed.
Sign out: Removes the sign-in from your device and asks OpenAI to revoke SearchAF's access.
Change: Switches answers to your own provider key or a model on this device. Your ChatGPT sign-in is kept, so switching back takes one click.

You can also disconnect from the other side. In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Security and login, then Sign in with ChatGPT, select SearchAF, and choose Disconnect.

If something goes wrong

Sign-in timed out: The browser step took too long. Choose Continue with ChatGPT to start again.
ChatGPT didn't give SearchAF permission to use your plan: You signed in but did not approve plan use. Choose Continue with ChatGPT and approve the request.
This ChatGPT account can't power SearchAF answers: OpenAI did not let this account use its plan in SearchAF, usually because the plan is not eligible. Use a different account, or choose another way to get answers.

Everything else on the privacy page applies unchanged. Search itself never leaves your device.