Guides · 6 of 10
AI replies with your own key
The ✨ button next to the message box drafts a reply, or improves what you’ve typed. You choose the AI. Nothing is sent to the other person until you press Send.
1. Choose your AI
About 3 minutes, once. Pick one:
On your Mac: nothing is sent anywhere
- Apple Intelligence. Needs macOS 26 or later, on a Mac with Apple Intelligence turned on (System Settings → Apple Intelligence & Siri).
- Ollama. Needs the free Ollama app from ollama.com, open, with a model downloaded.
Online, with your own API key
- Claude, run by Anthropic. Key from console.anthropic.com.
- ChatGPT, run by OpenAI. Key from platform.openai.com.
- Gemini, run by Google. Key from aistudio.google.com.
- Grok, run by xAI. Key from console.x.ai.
Keys are billed by that company, separately from any subscription such as Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus. A new OpenAI or xAI account needs some credit added first.
Gemini’s free key. Google offers a free Gemini key with limits per minute and per day. When you reach one, wait a minute and try again, or turn on billing for the key’s project to raise them.
2. Set it up
- Open Settings (hexagon in the menu bar → Settings…) and click the AI tab.
- Next to Written by, choose your AI.
- For Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok: click Get a key at …, make a key on that site and copy it. Paste it into Waggle and click Save.
- For Ollama: open Ollama and download a model (in Terminal:
ollama pull llama3.2), then click Check. - For Apple Intelligence: there’s nothing to paste.
What success looks like: for a key or Ollama, “Ready: the ✨ button in your bees now uses …” and a Model menu (a quick model is chosen for you). For Apple Intelligence, “Ready. Runs entirely on this Mac: nothing is sent anywhere.” If it can’t be used, it says why.
Keys stay in this Mac’s Keychain and never sync. On each other Mac, paste a key again. Also on this tab: Your name, which replies are written as.
3. Draft a reply
- Open a chat in any bee.
- Click ✨ next to the message box. (Not there? It may be behind the + button, as AI reply.)
- Choose Write a Reply, Reply Briefly or Decline Politely. With text already in the box, you can also choose Improve My Draft, Make It Shorter, Make It More Formal, Make It Friendlier or Fix Spelling and Grammar.
- Read the draft, edit it if you like, then press Send. Undo AI Draft puts back what you had.
What success looks like: the draft appears in the message box, marked as a draft. Nothing is sent until you press Send.
What’s sent, and when
- Only when you ask. Nothing goes to an AI until you choose one of the ✨ options.
- Only this conversation. The AI reads the conversation you’re in. In email bees, it also reads other recent emails from that person in the same bee. It never looks at your other bees, so a personal reply never draws on work chats.
- You’re asked first. The first time you use an online AI, Waggle asks “Send this conversation to Anthropic?” (or OpenAI, Google or xAI). Click Continue or Cancel.
- Apple Intelligence and Ollama keep everything on your Mac.
Work bees start with it off
Slack, Teams and Outlook bees don’t show ✨ until you turn it on, because many employers don’t allow work messages in outside AI services. Check your company’s policy first. To turn it on or off for any bee: right-click the bee → AI Replies.
Always read a draft before sending. AI can get things wrong.
If something’s not right
- What does using an online AI cost, and what does it see?
- What do I need for Apple Intelligence?
- How does Gemini work with Waggle? (free key limits)
- Can AI write a new email or summarise a thread?
- Where’s the ✨ button?
- All AI FAQs
Next: Web bees and AI bees