What about ephemeral keys for client-side streaming?

OpenAI supports `dangerouslyAllowBrowser` for a reason — it is dangerous. If you need lowest latency, use ephemeral credentials via beta endpoints, not the master key.

Critical severity

How to fix an exposed OpenAI API key in your frontend

Your OpenAI API key (starts with `sk-...`) is in your client JavaScript. Key-scraping bots find these within minutes and run expensive models (GPT-4o, o1) on your bill. Fix: (1) revoke the key in OpenAI dashboard; (2) set a hard spending limit on your account; (3) move every OpenAI call to a server endpoint; (4) optionally use ephemeral keys for client-side streaming. Do not rely on obfuscation — minification does not hide API keys.

Why it matters

OpenAI bills are uncapped by default. A leaked key running GPT-4o can cost $1000+ per day. The time between publication and exploitation is often under an hour.

How to check

01Search your bundle for `sk-` followed by 40+ characters.
02In OpenAI dashboard → Usage, look for usage spikes you cannot explain.
03API keys page shows 'Last used' timestamp and IP.

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How to fix it

OpenAI dashboard

Settings → API keys → Revoke. Then Settings → Billing → Limits → set a monthly hard limit.

Next.js + AI SDK

Use a Route Handler. Consider Vercel AI Gateway to avoid hard-coupling to one provider.

// app/api/chat/route.ts
import { streamText } from 'ai';

export async function POST(req: Request) {
  const { messages } = await req.json();
  const result = streamText({
    model: 'openai/gpt-4o-mini',  // via AI Gateway
    messages,
  });
  return result.toTextStreamResponse();
}

AI prompt

Copy-paste into your AI tool

Paste this prompt into Cursor, Lovable, Bolt, v0, or Claude Code and it will walk through the fix for your specific codebase.

My OpenAI API key is exposed in client code. Revoke it immediately in OpenAI dashboard, then move every call to a server-side route handler. Use the Vercel AI SDK with streamText for streaming responses — the browser hits my /api/chat endpoint, which uses OPENAI_API_KEY server-side. Set a spending limit in OpenAI billing to cap exposure.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What about ephemeral keys for client-side streaming?: OpenAI supports `dangerouslyAllowBrowser` for a reason — it is dangerous. If you need lowest latency, use ephemeral credentials via beta endpoints, not the master key.

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