# Quick start

Get your first secured LLM call running in about 5 minutes.

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Sign Up

Go to [app.collieai.com](https://app.collieai.com/) and create an account. You can sign in with **Google** (your account is created automatically on first login) or register with **email and password**.

All new accounts start on the **Free plan** - 15,000 API calls/month with full access to every security feature. See [Plans & Billing](broken://pages/54aaf323a9267c336d93a3e24f21fa2eff822e46) for details.

See [Authentication](broken://pages/1845ab390e5ce0610c3639336c3607da0944e5f1) for more details on sign-in methods.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Add a Provider Token

CollieAI needs your LLM provider's API key to forward requests on your behalf.

1. Open **Settings > Provider Tokens** in the dashboard.
2. Click **Add Token**.
3. Select the provider (e.g., OpenAI) and paste your API key (`sk-...`).
4. Check **Set as default** so CollieAI uses this token when proxying requests.

Your key is encrypted at rest and never exposed in logs or responses.

See [Provider Tokens](broken://pages/0e225d0c0161078d0be1ce78f322f6f14c27bb07) for more details.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Create a Project

Projects group your policies, rules, and API keys together.

1. Go to **Projects** in the dashboard.
2. Click **New Project**.
3. Give it a name (e.g., `my-chatbot`) and an optional description.

See [Projects](broken://pages/12493f7755c3bc9f868977b8eb076b8598bb0ddb) for more details.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Create a Policy and Add Rules

Policies contain the security rules that filter your traffic.

1. Inside your project, go to **Policies** and click **Create Policy**.
2. Give it a name (e.g., `default-policy`) and set it as the active policy.
3. Click **Add Rule** and create a regex rule to mask email addresses:

| Field     | Value                                            |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| Name      | `mask-emails`                                    |
| Type      | Regex                                            |
| Direction | All                                              |
| Decision  | Mask                                             |
| Pattern   | `[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}` |

See [Policies](broken://pages/838f7df49ce642ec55293bc256df97f808287402) and [Security Rules](broken://pages/a232c2070154c78b64b970b0ed0c632117af12b9) for more details.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Generate an API Key

1. Inside your project, go to **API Keys** and click **Create Key**.
2. Give it a descriptive name (e.g., `dev-key`).
3. Copy the key immediately -- it starts with `clai_` and is shown only once.

```
clai_AbCdEfGhSwDWWArWWDcpQrStUvWxYz012345678901234
```

Store it securely in an environment variable or secrets manager.

See [API Keys](broken://pages/7feac2acca8bcde057933e84cdddfb8ff4d6f647) for more details.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Make Your First Request

Install the OpenAI Python SDK if you have not already:

```bash
pip install openai
```

Point it at CollieAI by changing the `base_url` and using your CollieAI API key:

```python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="clai_AbAddEfGhIjwADnOpQrStUvWxYz012345678901234",
    base_url="https://api.collieai.com/v1",
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Summarize our Q4 roadmap."}
    ],
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)
```

That is it. Your request now flows through CollieAI's security pipeline before reaching OpenAI.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### See It in Action

With the email-masking rule active, try sending a message that contains a PII:

```python
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "My email is alice@example.com, can you help me?"}
    ],
)
```

CollieAI intercepts the request, masks the email address before it reaches OpenAI, and returns the model's response. Open the **Logs** page in the dashboard to see the request with the triggered `mask-emails` rule and the redacted content.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Next Steps

* [Proxy Integration](broken://pages/157c3242e7f3564dfdc06320e342fd0f5853f712) -- Streaming, error handling, and advanced SDK usage.
* [Async Jobs](broken://pages/0314bdda43619d99e4dcd4c0a5ebbd9996c1b9ec) -- Submit requests and receive results via webhooks.
* [Security Rules](broken://pages/a232c2070154c78b64b970b0ed0c632117af12b9) -- Explore every rule type: PII detection, prompt injection blocking, URL filtering, and more.
* [Monitoring](broken://pages/c43f7395c96e1c24318aa800d9a4b7229fa328db) -- View logs, analytics, and configure alerts.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.collieai.io/getting-started/quick-start.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.