Native BYOK support for visual reviews and Ask without an external coding agent #1218

Problem

Whiteboard Desktop already supports starting a visual review, but generation and Ask depend on an external coding agent installed on the machine.

The existing API-key and custom-endpoint settings power diffr’s file summaries. They do not enable whiteboard generation or Ask. Users who already have an API key therefore still need to install and configure Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, or Pi to use the full AI workflow.

Proposed experience

Add a native bring-your-own-key (BYOK) mode: install Whiteboard, configure an API key for a supported provider, choose a supported model, and use Whiteboard’s AI features directly.

Providers could include OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, and others, with no preferred provider.

Users should be able to:

• Generate visual reviews from GitHub PRs or branch comparisons.
• Explore and understand a repository’s architecture.
• Generate and modify diagrams and explanations.
• Ask contextual questions and request changes to a review through Ask.
• Find and resume saved conversations.

The complete workflow should work on a machine with no external coding agent installed. Connecting a provider through an externally installed agent would not satisfy this request.

Proposed approach

Add native BYOK as an alternative to external coding agents across Desktop generation and Ask:

• Let users configure a provider, securely save or remove an API key, and select a supported model in Whiteboard. Keep keys out of logs and shared content.
• Support repository and diff exploration, whiteboard generation, and follow-up questions or edits through Ask using that configuration.
• Save conversations so users can reopen and continue them after restarting Whiteboard.
• Provide visible progress, cancellation, and actionable errors. Clearly communicate model limitations rather than assuming compatibility with every model a provider offers.