LLM Wallet: A Local-First LLM Credential Management Tool

LLM Wallet is a local-first CLI tool and macOS desktop application designed to unify the management of API keys, model names, and endpoint URLs from multiple LLM inference providers such as OpenAI, Groq, and Ollama. Its core features include full local data storage with zero cloud sync and zero leakage risk, support for credential testing, interactive chat, and .env file export, solving the problem of chaotic credential management across multiple providers.

With the popularity of LLMs, developers often need to use multiple inference providers (e.g., OpenAI, Groq, Ollama), but the management of API keys, endpoint URLs, and model names from different providers is chaotic:

• Scattered .env files are hard to distinguish by purpose
• Forgetting keys leads to service failure
• Troubleshooting expired endpoint configurations is difficult
• Credentials are passed through unsafe channels during team collaboration LLM Wallet was created to solve these problems.

The core features of LLM Wallet include:

1. Unified Credential Storage: Centralized management of credentials from all OpenAI API-compatible providers. Each record includes name, Base URL, API Key (masked display), model name, etc., supporting mainstream providers like OpenAI, Groq, and Ollama.
2. Connectivity Testing: One-click verification of credential validity (llm-wallet test <name-or-id>).
3. Interactive Chat Testing: Directly chat with the model in the terminal to evaluate responses (llm-wallet chat <name-or-id>).
4. .env Export: Quickly generate .env files in prefix mode or universal OPENAI_* format, compatible with most tool frameworks.

Data Security:

• All data is stored locally in ~/.llm-wallet/wallet.json with no telemetry or remote sync;
• API keys are partially masked when viewed to prevent peeking;
• Data can be optionally retained when uninstalling. Technical Architecture:
• Developed with TypeScript, CLI based on Node.js;
• macOS desktop app built with Tauri 2 + React: lightweight (~8MB), native experience, supports light/dark themes.

Applicable Scenarios:

• Multi-project management: Avoid repetitive maintenance of .env files;
• Team collaboration: Provide standardized credential formats;
• Local development testing: Quickly verify new providers/models;
• Credential rotation: One update can be exported to all projects. Limitations:
• Credentials stored in plain text (needs encryption optimization);
• Desktop app only supports macOS;
• Lack of team collaboration sharing features;
• No encrypted backup/restore options.

LLM Wallet is a lightweight tool focused on solving LLM credential management pain points, with local-first as its core to ensure API key security and no leakage. Through unified storage, convenient testing, and export functions, it significantly improves developer efficiency. Although there is room for improvement such as encrypted storage and multi-platform support, it is still a practical tool for developers who frequently switch LLM providers and meets the needs of security-sensitive scenarios.