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Your teammates run on your own AI accounts. You connect a subscription or an API key from one of 13 providers, and your provider bills you for model usage. Squad does not sell model usage. The credentials are stored on your cloud computer. Squad recommends Claude Code on a Claude Max or Ultra plan, with Claude Opus 5.5. A squad that you set up with Claude Code starts on Claude Code Opus 5.5. See Limits and defaults. You connect your first provider during setup. After setup, you add, replace, and remove accounts in Settings > AI. You can connect more than one provider and more than one account per provider.

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Before you start

  • An account with one of the providers below, on the plan or key type in the table.
  • For Claude Code and Claude only: Node.js and a terminal on your own computer, to run the command that creates a setup token. You do not need Claude Code installed.
  • For ChatGPT only: in ChatGPT, open Settings > Security and turn on Enable device code authorization for Codex.

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Providers and what they bill

The providers appear in this order on the setup page and in the Add an account menu on Settings > AI. For the credits that Squad charges for research tools, see What Squad costs and what uses credits. Credits never pay for model usage.

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Connect during setup

On the setup page, you pick one card under Choose your AI provider, tick the Terms box, and click Launch my squad. When you connect depends on the card:
  • Claude Code: the setup page selects it by default and says “You’ll connect Claude Code right after setup: run one command on your computer and paste the token it prints. Your squad then runs on your Claude plan’s included limits.” On the success screen, click Connect Claude Code →.
  • Claude and Z.ai: you paste the token or key on the setup page, before you click Launch my squad. For Claude, the page first says “This connection is deprecated.” with Use Claude Code instead, which selects Claude Code. The Terms box and Launch my squad appear only after you paste a token.
  • ChatGPT · Codex and MiniMax: the connection starts by itself on the success screen, after the build finishes.
  • All other cards show “Connects after setup”. On the success screen, click Connect followed by the provider name. The same window as in Settings > AI opens. Follow the steps for your provider below.
On the success screen, Skip for now and Skip to Dashboard let you continue without a connection. Your teammates cannot work until you connect an account in Settings > AI. The provider that you pick at setup also sets your squad’s default model. See Limits and defaults.

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Connect or add an account in Settings

1

Open Settings > AI

Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then AI. You can also press ⌘K or Ctrl+K, type AI, and select AI (The AI your squad thinks with, and its accounts) under Go to.
2

Choose the provider

Click Add an account, beside Accounts. The menu lists every provider, in the order of the table above. Claude shows as Claude (deprecated). Click the provider. The same menu adds a second account to a provider that already has one.
3

Name the account

In Token name, type a name for this account, for example personal or work. The part before the colon is fixed. Use a different name for each account of the same provider.
4

Complete the provider steps

Complete the steps for your provider in the next section.
A window titled Add followed by the provider’s name and token opens. It closes when the account is connected. The account appears as a row on the provider’s card under Accounts. A provider’s card shows only after it has an account.

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Steps for each provider

  1. On your own computer, open a terminal and run npx @anthropic-ai/claude-code setup-token. The window shows this command under 1 · Generate a setup token. You do not need Claude Code installed. The command needs Node.js.
  2. Approve in the browser window that opens.
  3. Copy the token that the terminal prints. It starts with sk-ant-oat01-. If the terminal wraps it onto two lines, copy all of it. Squad removes spaces and line breaks from the pasted token.
  4. In the Claude Code window, paste the token in 2 · Paste the setup token.
  5. Optional: type the Claude account’s email in 3 · Account email. The token cannot show which account created it, so the email labels the row.
  6. Click Connect.
Squad checks the token with a real test turn on your cloud computer before it saves it. A regular Anthropic API key does not work here.The token goes through Squad’s server on its way to your cloud computer, over encrypted connections. The server keeps no copy: the token is not saved in Squad’s database or in its logs. It is stored only on the cloud computer, in Claude Code’s own credentials file and in your squad’s list of Claude Code accounts there. When you disconnect the account, Squad deletes its token from your cloud computer. See How your Claude Code setup token travels.On Squad for Mac, the window shows the same command, and says “It needs only Node.js, not Claude Code.”With more than one Claude Code account, one account is active and the others are on standby. The newest connection becomes the active one. When the active account reaches its usage limit, Squad makes the next account in the order active, and that account shows In use. The run that hit the limit continues once on the new account. If it had already done work, the teammate is told to continue from where it stopped and not to repeat what is done. The account that ran out is skipped until its limit resets. To choose the active account yourself, move it to the top of the card and save the order.

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Replace or remove an account

To reconnect an account, for example after it expired:
  1. On the account’s row, open the … menu (Actions for this account) and click Replace…. On a signed-out or expired account, you can also click Reconnect on the row.
  2. Complete the steps for the provider. The window is titled Replace followed by the account name. The name is locked, so the new login overwrites exactly this account.
To remove an account, open the … menu on its row and click Disconnect….
Disconnect… asks you to confirm: “Disconnect [name]?” and “Teammates who use this account stop until you connect one again.” If it was the only account for a provider, runs that use that provider’s models fail until you connect an account again.

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Use more than one account

Each provider card can hold several accounts. With two or more accounts, the card numbers them, highest first, and your squad tries them in that order. Use the up and down arrows to change the order, then click Save changes in the Priority order changed bar. The order is the fallback order inside that provider. Claude Code is different: one account is active at a time, and the next account takes over when the active one reaches its usage limit. If every Claude Code account is at its limit, Claude Code cannot serve runs until one resets. Runs then move to the next model under When it can’t answer, if you set one. For how long an account is skipped, see Limits and defaults. Connecting an account does not change which model your teammates use. To run your teammates on a newly connected provider, choose one of its models in Thinks with, or add it with Add one to try next… under When it can’t answer, then save. See Choose models and manage AI accounts.

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Check that it works

  • The account appears as a row on the provider’s card. A healthy account shows no status word, except In use when the card has other accounts. A problem shows as a word such as Expired or Signed out. See Statuses and what they mean.
  • Send a message to your chief of staff in chat. A reply means your teammates can reach the model.

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Troubleshooting

The window shows “Authorization timed out. Please try again.” Cause: you did not approve the device code within 5 minutes. Fix: close the window and start again. You get a new code. The ChatGPT connection does not complete after you paste the code. Cause: device code authorization can be off in your ChatGPT account. Squad asks you to turn it on before you connect. Fix: in ChatGPT, open Settings > Security and turn on Enable device code authorization for Codex. Then connect again. The name field says the account “is already connected. Connecting would overwrite it.” Cause: an account with the same token name exists on this card. Fix: type another name, or select Replace… in the … menu of the existing account. Claude says “Token must start with sk-ant-oat01-”. Cause: you pasted something other than a setup token, for example an API key or a partial token. Fix: run the setup-token command again and copy the whole token. Claude Code refuses the token. Cause: Claude Code accepts only a setup token that starts with sk-ant-oat01-. It refuses API keys. Fix: run npx @anthropic-ai/claude-code setup-token and paste its output. The Z.ai window says “Z.AI won’t use a GLM Coding Plan for this key.” Cause: Z.AI answered “Insufficient balance or no resource package”. Most often the key was made on the Standard tab of API Keys, which bills your Z.AI balance and never your plan. It can also mean that the account has no GLM Coding Plan, or a plan that Z.AI has not put in force. Fix: make a key on the Personal Coding Plan tab and paste it. With no plan yet, subscribe to the GLM Coding Plan first. If a Personal Coding Plan key is refused too, contact Z.AI support. The Z.ai window says “Z.AI didn’t accept that key.” Cause: Z.AI does not know the key, for example because it is incomplete, deleted, or expired. Fix: copy the key again from API Keys on z.ai and paste it. A red banner says a provider “is signed out on your squad”. Cause: the login for that provider stopped working. Runs that use it fail. Fix: click Reconnect on the account and sign in again. On every other screen, a banner says “[account] is signed out, so your squad can’t work.”, with Reconnect for the owner and Administrators. For ChatGPT, the banner shows only when no ChatGPT account works. When Claude Code is signed out, Today and Needs you also say so first, with Reconnect and the account’s name, and the owner gets one email. See An expired AI connection. A ChatGPT row says “It couldn’t renew itself. Reconnect it to sign in again.” Cause: the ChatGPT login can no longer renew itself. Fix: select Replace… in the row’s … menu and connect again. Chat shows “Your AI connection expired. Replies will fail until you reconnect.” Cause: the account that serves your teammates expired. Fix: click Reconnect, then click Reconnect on the account that shows Expired or Signed out, or select Replace… in its … menu if its row shows neither. You skipped the connection at setup and your teammates do not reply. Cause: no AI account is connected. Settings > AI says “No AI account is connected yet.” Fix: connect an account in Settings > AI with the steps on this page. For other setup errors, see Fix setup problems.