Getting started with the OpenAI API takes about 10 minutes.

Steps

1. Create an account at platform.openai.com
2. Go to API Keys → Create new secret key
3. Copy your key — you won't see it again
4. Install the SDK: pip install openai or npm install openai
5. Set your key as an environment variable: OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Your First API Call (Python)

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Reference:

OpenAI quickstart guide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Setup