Overview

In Pay-i, an Application refers to a specific service, product, or system that makes API calls to AI providers. Applications are the third tier in Pay-i's three-tier hierarchical structure, following Organizations and Groups.

Each application represents an individual service or system making AI provider requests and can contain one or more Use Cases. For detailed information about how Applications fit into Pay-i's overall structure, including API key assignment, see the Organizational Structure documentation.

Applications in Practice

Applications typically represent:

Individual products or services your company offers
Different environments (development, staging, production)
Distinct systems or microservices that use AI capabilities

For example, in our scenario of a "Summarization Service," this application makes chat completion API calls to OpenAI to summarize documents for users like Jane.

Application Management

Creating Applications

Applications in Pay-i must be explicitly created through the dashboard interface:

Navigate to the Organization view
Click the "+ Create Application" button in the top-right corner

In the modal dialog that appears:
- Enter an "Application Name" that describes your service or system
- Select an "Application Group" from the dropdown (or use the default). For more information about Groups, see the Groups documentation.
- Click "Create" to finish

When an application is created, Pay-i automatically generates API keys for it. These API keys are used to authenticate requests to Pay-i and are specific to that application.

Accessing API Keys

After creating an application:

Go to the application's Settings page
Find the API Keys section
Copy the keys as needed for your implementation

For detailed instructions on API key management, see the Pay-i API Keys documentation.

Viewing Application Data

In the Pay-i dashboard, you can:

See usage metrics for each application
Compare costs across applications
View application-specific limits and use cases
Analyze performance and failure data by application

Application Settings

Each application has its own settings that control:

Logging behavior (whether prompts and completions are stored)
Default limits
Default billing models
User access permissions

Best Practices

Organization

Logical Separation: Create separate applications for distinct services or products
Environment Segregation: Use different applications for development, staging, and production
Team Isolation: Consider separate applications for different teams if they need independent tracking

Naming Conventions

Use clear, consistent names for your applications
Include environment information if applicable (e.g., "Summarization-Prod", "Summarization-Dev")
Consider including team or department names for organizational clarity

Security

Rotate application API keys periodically
Limit access to application API keys on a need-to-know basis
Use different API keys for different deployment environments

Applications and Other Pay-i Concepts

Applications work with other Pay-i concepts in the following ways:

Limits: Can be associated with specific applications
Use Cases: Belong to specific applications
Request Tags: Help categorize API calls within an application
User IDs: Track end-user activity across an application

Understanding the Organizational Context

Applications exist within Pay-i's broader organizational hierarchy. For a detailed explanation of how Applications fit into the overall structure, including example organizational layouts, see the Organizational Structure documentation.