# Simon Willison releases llm-keys-ui 0.1 to save API keys on remote agent machines

> Simon Willison released llm-keys-ui 0.1, a plugin that saves API keys onto remote machines so they never get pasted into agent sessions.

- **Topic**: Models
- **Published**: 2026-09-23T16:27:43.893Z
- **Canonical URL**: https://highsignal.sh/stories/simon-willison-releases-llm-keys-ui-0-1-to-save-api-keys-on-remote-agent-machine-9e5eccf2

## Why It Matters

It is a narrow developer utility for people who run coding agents on remote machines but would rather not hand keys to the agent itself.

## Key Findings & Analysis

### What the plugin does

In a post on his own site, Simon Willison said llm-keys-ui 0.1 solves an issue he hit while using Codex Remote to run coding agents on other machines from his phone. The plugin exposes a local web interface, reachable over local network or Tailscale device IPs, where additional API keys can be saved. The command he demonstrated is `uvx --with llm-keys-ui llm keys-ui --all`, with Codex then reporting back the interface URL. Later, a command such as `llm keys get anthropic` can be used inside a shell command when an agent needs a key.

### Why it matters

Willison framed the release around a preference rather than a security guarantee: he does not want API keys pasted into agent sessions, and he wanted a way onto a machine that bypasses pasting them into the ChatGPT app directly. The plugin is tagged for llm, coding-agents, and codex. No independent review, benchmark, or third-party testing is supplied; the description comes from the publisher's own release post.

## Original Evidence & Verbatim Citations

> "Release: llm-keys-ui 0.1"

— *Grounded field: headline*

> "I don't like pasting API keys into agent sessions, so I wanted a way to get those keys onto a machine without pasting them into the ChatGPT app directly."

— *Grounded field: headline*

> "Release: llm-keys-ui 0.1"

— *Grounded field: summary*

> "I don't like pasting API keys into agent sessions, so I wanted a way to get those keys onto a machine without pasting them into the ChatGPT app directly."

— *Grounded field: summary*

> "Sometimes I use those machines to hack on LLM projects, and occasionally that means I need to configure an API key."

— *Grounded field: whyItMatters*

> "I don't like pasting API keys into agent sessions, so I wanted a way to get those keys onto a machine without pasting them into the ChatGPT app directly."

— *Grounded field: whyItMatters*

> "This plugin solves a very specific problem. I've started using Codex Remote to run coding agents on various machines while controlling them from my phone."

— *Grounded field: section:0*

> "Then have it tell me the URL - including local network or Tailscale device IPs - for an interface to save additional API keys."

— *Grounded field: section:0*

> "With this plugin, I can tell Codex to run: uvx --with llm-keys-ui llm keys-ui --all"

— *Grounded field: section:0*

> "Then later it can use a command like llm keys get anthropic as part of a shell command when it needs to use a key."

— *Grounded field: section:0*

> "I don't like pasting API keys into agent sessions, so I wanted a way to get those keys onto a machine without pasting them into the ChatGPT app directly."

— *Grounded field: section:1*

> "Tags: llm, coding-agents, codex"

— *Grounded field: section:1*

## Primary Sources & Citations

- [llm-keys-ui 0.1](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/20/llm-keys-ui/) — *Simon Willison* (Reporting)

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