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How to set up and verify your ChainGPT API key for the Claude plugin

Updated May 31, 2026, 02:08 PM

ChainGPT product tools in the Claude plugin (chat, NFT, audit, news) use credits and require a CHAINGPT_API_KEY. This article shows how to get the key, set it, and verify it works.

Get your key

  1. Visit app.chaingpt.org and create an account.
  2. Go to API Keys and click Create New Secret Key.
  3. Copy the key immediately. It is only displayed once.

API calls consume credits. To load credits, visit app.chaingpt.org/addcredits and choose a payment method: crypto (USDT, USDC, ETH, BNB, TRX, $CGPT) or credit card. 1,000 credits costs $10 USD (1 credit = $0.01), and paying with $CGPT tokens adds a 15% bonus.

Set the key

The API key environment variable is CHAINGPT_API_KEY.

  • Plugin installs: the MCP server reads CHAINGPT_API_KEY from your environment automatically via the .mcp.json configuration. You only need to provide the key.
  • Manual installs (git clone): set the key in your .claude/settings.json MCP server configuration, under the chaingpt server's env:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chaingpt": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [".claude/skills/chaingpt/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": { "CHAINGPT_API_KEY": "your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

If the product tools fail, set the CHAINGPT_API_KEY environment variable to a key from app.chaingpt.org and reload your shell.

Verify the key

Test that the key works with a GET request using a Bearer token:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
  -X GET "https://api.chaingpt.org/nft/get-chains?testNet=false" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHAINGPT_API_KEY"
  • 200 means the key is valid.
  • 401 means the key is invalid or expired.

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