diff --git a/docs/sdk/chat.mdx b/docs/sdk/chat.mdx
index ea0e54426..65719d74d 100644
--- a/docs/sdk/chat.mdx
+++ b/docs/sdk/chat.mdx
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ Implemented in `services/openai.js`
 - OpenAI chat completions integration
 - GPT-3.5-turbo implementation
 - Conversation threading support
+- API key can be loaded from secrets.toml project file by adding a [data.openai] field and setting api_key to your API key like so
+```
+[data.openai]
+api_key = "sk-YOUR-KEY"
+```
 
 ## Basic Usage
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/DynamicComponents.jsx b/frontend/src/components/DynamicComponents.jsx
index 76eea7c9f..bc99be909 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/DynamicComponents.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/DynamicComponents.jsx
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ const MemoizedComponent = memo(
             {...props}
             sourceId={component.config?.source || null}
             sourceData={component.config?.data || null}
+            apiKey={component.config?.apiKey || null}
             value={component.value || component.state || { messages: [] }}
             onChange={(value) => {
               handleUpdate(componentId, value);
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/widgets/ChatWidget.jsx b/frontend/src/components/widgets/ChatWidget.jsx
index 7400d9a1d..62d20eb73 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/widgets/ChatWidget.jsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/widgets/ChatWidget.jsx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import { createChatCompletion } from '@/services/openai';
 const ChatWidget = ({
   sourceId = null,
   sourceData = null,
+  apiKey = null,
   value = { messages: [] },
   onChange,
   className,
@@ -23,9 +24,14 @@ const ChatWidget = ({
   const messagesEndRef = useRef(null);
   const chatContainerRef = useRef(null);
 
+  // Load API key from secrets.toml if present
+  if (apiKey && apiKey != '') {
+    sessionStorage.setItem('openai_api_key', apiKey.trim());
+  }
+
   const [inputValue, setInputValue] = useState('');
   const [showSettings, setShowSettings] = useState(false);
-  const [apiKey, setApiKey] = useState('');
+  const [defaultApiKey, setApiKey] = useState('');
   const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(false);
   const [error, setError] = useState(null);
   const hasApiKey = useMemo(() => !!sessionStorage.getItem('openai_api_key'), []);
@@ -165,8 +171,8 @@ const ChatWidget = ({
   // Add this function to handle API key submission
   const handleApiKeySubmit = (e) => {
     e.preventDefault();
-    if (apiKey.trim()) {
-      sessionStorage.setItem('openai_api_key', apiKey.trim());
+    if (defaultApiKey.trim()) {
+      sessionStorage.setItem('openai_api_key', defaultApiKey.trim());
       setShowSettings(false);
       window.location.reload(); // Refresh to update hasApiKey state
     }
@@ -210,7 +216,7 @@ const ChatWidget = ({
                 <h3 className="text-sm font-medium">OpenAI API Key</h3>
                 <Input
                   type="password"
-                  value={apiKey}
+                  value={defaultApiKey}
                   onChange={(e) => setApiKey(e.target.value)}
                   placeholder="sk-..."
                   className="flex-1 transition-colors text-sm h-8"
@@ -220,7 +226,7 @@ const ChatWidget = ({
                 </p>
               </div>
               <div className="flex justify-end">
-                <Button type="submit" disabled={!apiKey.trim()} size="sm" className="h-8">
+                <Button type="submit" disabled={!defaultApiKey.trim()} size="sm" className="h-8">
                   Save Key
                 </Button>
               </div>
diff --git a/preswald/interfaces/components.py b/preswald/interfaces/components.py
index 943c33056..09da510dd 100644
--- a/preswald/interfaces/components.py
+++ b/preswald/interfaces/components.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
+import tomli
 
 # from PIL import Image
 # try:
@@ -97,6 +98,20 @@ def chat(source: str, table: Optional[str] = None) -> Dict:
     if current_state is None:
         current_state = {"messages": [], "source": source}
 
+    # Get API key from secrets.toml
+    try:
+        with open("secrets.toml", "rb") as toml:
+            secrets = tomli.load(toml)
+
+        if secrets and secrets["data"]["openai"]["api_key"]:
+            api_key = secrets["data"]["openai"]["api_key"]
+
+        else:
+            api_key = None
+
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        api_key = None
+
     # Get dataframe from source
     df = (
         service.data_manager.get_df(source)
@@ -132,6 +147,7 @@ def chat(source: str, table: Optional[str] = None) -> Dict:
         "config": {
             "source": source,
             "data": serializable_data,
+            "apiKey": api_key,
         },
     }