3 Minute Setup Guide for Chase Agents

Chase Agents Guides · By Caleb Sakala · December 12, 2025

Cartoon person snapping together a three-piece rocket puzzle next to a stopwatch

Welcome to Chase Agents. This 3 minute guide will walk you through the essentials to get up and running in about 15 minutes.

Step 1: Create Your Free Account

Go to https://chaseagents.com and sign up. You'll get 20 free messages to test things out. No credit card needed for this trial.

Step 2: Test with Your 20 Free Messages

Use your free messages to connect one service and try a simple automation. This helps you understand if Chase Agents is right for your workflow. No commitment, no risk.

Example: Connect your email and ask it to email a colleague on your behalf.

Step 3: Get an API Key (Recommended: OpenRouter)

Once you're ready to scale beyond 20 messages, you need an AI model provider. We recommend OpenRouter because it's simple and cost-effective.

Go to https://openrouter.ai and create a free account. Go to https://openrouter.ai/settings/keys. Find and copy your API Key. Save this key - you'll need it next.

Step 4: Connect Your API Key to Chase Agents

Log into Chase Agents. Go to Workspace Settings. Click AI Model Settings. Select your provider on the left side panel (OpenRouter, Grok, Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, etc.). Select the AI model you want from the grid on the right. Paste your API Key. Save and you're ready to go.

Step 5: Test Your First Automation in Chat

Use the Chat interface to test out your automation idea. Describe what you want to automate and let the AI help you build the workflow. This is a quick way to validate your idea before scaling it up.

Step 6: Convert to a Scheduled Automation

Once you've tested in Chat and it works the way you want, go to the Automations page to turn it into a live, scheduled automation. Wondering what automations are? See our quick guide to automations in Chase Agents: https://youtu.be/qmh9HoIx8Ss

Understanding Pricing

Chase Agents doesn't mark up AI costs. You pay your AI provider directly for what you use. Pricing depends on what you're automating and which models you select.

Simple tasks (categorizing, extracting): $0.01 - $0.05 per task. Complex tasks (analysis, writing): $0.10 - $0.50 per task. Start small and scale based on your actual usage.

Why OpenRouter?

One API key for all major models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, etc.). Switch providers and models without changing your setup - and even use FREE AI models. See pricing differences in real-time and balance quality with cost.

Security: Your Data is Safe

Your API keys are encrypted and only used when your automation runs. Chase Agents never shares your keys except with your designated AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Grok, Gemini, OpenRouter). Your API keys are never shared with an LLM or with any third party besides your chosen provider.

Common First Automations

  • Email sending: Automatically sending update emails to colleagues or leads based on daily activities.
  • Lead scoring: Automatically categorize new leads by quality.
  • Data extraction: Pull information from documents into a spreadsheet.
  • Social media monitoring: Track mentions and categorize sentiment.

Quick Troubleshooting

API Key not working? Make sure you copied the entire key from your provider and pasted it correctly with no extra spaces.

Automation running slowly? Reduce the number of complex AI tasks or break them into smaller steps.

Want to optimize costs? Use faster, cheaper models for simple tasks. Reserve powerful models for tasks that need advanced reasoning.

Next Steps

Sign up and test with your 20 free messages. Create an API account (we recommend OpenRouter). Connect your API key in Workspace Settings. Test your first automation in Chat. Convert it to a scheduled automation. Monitor and optimize as you scale.

That's it. You're ready to start automating.