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docs: clarify when LLM API keys are required vs optional #1386

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docs: clarify when LLM API keys are required vs optional
Anujpandey12345 Jan 27, 2026
fb71a6e
docs: minor formatting touch to reopen PR
Anujpandey12345 Jan 27, 2026
3517cbe
docs: trigger CI after ruff verification
Anujpandey12345 Jan 29, 2026
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31 changes: 31 additions & 0 deletions README.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
---
noteId: "2aecbda0fd0411f088eb375fc53985b6"
tags: []

---

<p align="center">
<img width="100%" alt="Hive Banner" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/aden-prod-assets/website/aden-title-card.png" />
</p>
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -68,6 +74,29 @@ Aden is a platform for building, deploying, operating, and adapting AI agents:
- [Python 3.11+](https://www.python.org/downloads/) for agent development
- [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) (v20.10+) - Optional, for containerized tools

## 🔑 LLM API Keys: Required vs Optional

LLM API keys are **not required** for many contribution paths.

### ✅ LLM API keys are NOT required for:
- Cloning the repository
- Running the Python setup script (`./scripts/setup-python.sh`)
- Installing framework dependencies and developer tools
- Documentation improvements
- Framework, tooling, or developer-experience contributions

### 🔐 LLM API keys ARE required for:
- Building agents using `/building-agents`
- Testing agents using `/testing-agent`
- Running agents via the runtime

> 💡 Contributors without LLM credits can still make meaningful contributions
> by improving documentation, tooling, tests, and developer experience.

Optional alternatives such as **local models (e.g., Ollama)** may be explored
for development and experimentation.


### Installation

```bash
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -394,3 +423,5 @@ For enterprise inquiries, contact the Aden team through [adenhq.com](https://ade
<p align="center">
Made with 🔥 Passion in San Francisco
</p>