Settings, Sign-In and Your AI Key
Settings holds sign-in, your own AI provider key, connections, activity, and data export, in four tabs: Account, Connections, Activity, and Danger zone.
On this page
Sign in with Google
Continue with Google creates your account on first use and signs you in afterward. Google confirms the address, so there is no confirmation email or password.
If registration is temporarily closed, existing accounts can still sign in.
Sessions
A session lasts up to 30 days from the moment you signed in; using Rivul AI does not extend it, so after 30 days you sign in with Google again. Signing out from the account menu ends your sessions on every device, and Settings → Account → Sign out everywhere does the same from any device. Your Google account itself stays signed in with Google.
Deleting the account requires a Google sign-in within the last 10 minutes and typing your account email.
Free for everyone
Rivul AI is free. Nothing in Settings asks for payment.
AI features use your own API key for one AI provider: Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Mistral, or Meta, connected in Settings → AI provider. Without a key, AI features say so.
Search papers, Rivul MCP and REST search, the Library, Document OCR, Transcribe, Listen, citing, references and export work with no AI key; only AI features (Ask Rivul, Research briefs, agent runs, PDF chat, editor actions, autocomplete) use your own key. Research still searches and shows papers without a key; only its written brief needs one.
What needs your own AI key
Only AI features call your AI provider with your key. Everything else runs on the Rivul Index or inside Rivul AI and needs no AI key.
| Feature | Needs your AI key? | Runs on |
|---|---|---|
| Search papers: search 300M+ records, sort, author search | No | Rivul Index |
| Paper details, DOI and open-access links | No | Rivul Index |
| Rivul MCP and REST search (uses a Rivul MCP key, not an AI key) | No | Rivul Index |
| PDF library: upload, read, annotate, search inside a PDF | No | Rivul |
| Document OCR, Transcribe, and Listen | No | Rivul |
| Skills: browse, write, add from skills.sh | No | Rivul |
| Citations and Citation tools: cite, reference list, renumbering, BibTeX, five styles | No | Rivul |
| Rule-based checks: unsourced claims, claim check, retraction flags, submission preflight | No | Rivul |
| Export | No | Rivul |
| Research: finding and listing papers | No | Rivul Index |
| Research written answer | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
| Ask Rivul | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
| PDF chat, and Explain on a PDF selection | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
| Editor AI actions: rewrite, polish, proofread, tone, summarize, outline, translate, titles, abstracts, review | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
| Autocomplete | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
| Related Work draft | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
| Research agents: search, read, and write a cited report | Yes | Your AI provider (BYOK) |
Usage and limits
There is no monthly or daily AI allowance to buy or use up: AI runs on your own API key, and your AI provider bills you directly for that use. Your provider's own dashboard shows what you have spent.
Fair-use limits per minute, per hour, and per day apply to AI actions, autocomplete, and scholarly search, and sit well above a person's working pace. When one is reached, Rivul AI says so and the request works again once the window passes. Scholarly search has no fixed count beyond those fair-use limits. You can store 5 PDFs at a time, 10 MB each; files already stored above that stay readable, and new uploads wait until you delete one. References without a PDF do not count: the Library footer shows the number of papers and, separately, how many of the 5 PDFs are stored.
If your AI provider refuses a request, for example because the key is invalid or its balance is used up, check the key in Settings → AI provider and your account with that provider.
Integrations and activity
The Connectors page, in the sidebar, lists every service Rivul AI connects to in three tabs. Files covers Google Drive, Google Docs and Zotero. AI clients (MCP) lists the AI tools that search through Rivul MCP, with a setup guide for each. AI provider shows which provider's API key is connected. Zotero import and push run from the Zotero row; the Zotero key is used for that request and is not stored by Rivul AI. Settings → Connections links to the same page.
Settings → Activity lists security-sensitive account, AI provider connection, paper, and workspace events. The log stores metadata such as action and time, never manuscript text or PDF content.
Google Drive and Google Docs
Library → Add → Add from Google Drive opens Google's file picker filtered to PDFs. You can pick as many PDFs as you have free storage slots; each one is downloaded by your browser and added like any uploaded PDF, with the same size limit.
New paper menu → Import Google Doc picks one Google Doc, exports it as a Word file in your browser, and runs the usual Word import review. Export → Word → Save to Google Docs saves the paper's Word export to your Google Drive as a Google Doc and links to it.
Rivul AI asks Google only for the drive.file permission, the first time you use one of these actions: access to the files you pick and the documents Rivul AI creates, nothing else in your Drive. The access token stays in that browser tab and is never sent to or stored by Rivul AI. If nothing opens, allow pop-ups for rivul.ai. If your browser blocks third-party cookies, Google asks once to allow cookies for its file picker; choose Allow, which lets Google show your own Drive and gives Rivul AI nothing extra.
Connectors → Google Drive or Google Docs → Connect asks Google once; one connection covers both. After that the rows show Connected, with Add PDFs and Import a Doc, and each action asks Google for a fresh token in a short pop-up. Rivul AI remembers only that you connected in this browser, never the token.
Connectors → Disconnect forgets the connection in this browser and revokes the current token with Google. Access granted on an earlier visit can be removed from the third-party connections in your Google Account; Google may then ask for consent again the next time you connect.
Download your data
Settings → Account → Download export creates a ZIP containing papers as JSON and Markdown, references, library metadata and extracted text, annotations, watched searches, and the activity log. Original PDF binaries are cataloged but not duplicated in the ZIP.
Delete a workspace or account
Settings → Danger zone can permanently delete one workspace and its papers, or the entire account and all tenant data. Both actions require an explicit confirmation and cannot be undone. The workspace menu (top left) links there too: Manage workspaces….
Download your data first if you need a portable copy.
Correspondence
Use Share Feedback in the app for product feedback, or the contact form at rivul.ai/contact for anything else. Messages are read; there is no guaranteed response. Do not include passwords, API keys, or session cookies.
Something here wrong or missing? Use the contact form.