diff --git a/setup.sh b/setup.sh
index a9b5a99da8..544b505aa3 100755
--- a/setup.sh
+++ b/setup.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,22 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 cd "$(dirname "$0")" || exit
 
-echo -n "Enter your OpenAI Key (eg: sk...): "
+is_valid_sk_key() {
+  local api_key=$1
+  local pattern="^sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{48}$"
+  [[ $api_key =~ $pattern ]] && return 0 || return 1
+}
+
+echo -n "Enter your OpenAI Key (eg: sk...) or press enter to continue with no key: "
 read OPENAI_API_KEY
 
+if is_valid_sk_key $OPENAI_API_KEY || [ -z "$OPENAI_API_KEY" ]; then
+  echo "Valid API key"
+else
+  echo "Invalid API key. Please ensure that you have billing set up on your OpenAI account"
+  exit
+fi
+
 NEXTAUTH_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
 
 ENV="NODE_ENV=development\n\
@@ -24,4 +37,4 @@ else
   ./prisma/useSqlite.sh
   npm install
   npm run dev
-fi
\ No newline at end of file
+fi
diff --git a/src/components/SettingsDialog.tsx b/src/components/SettingsDialog.tsx
index 39c717b1ff..114a51351a 100644
--- a/src/components/SettingsDialog.tsx
+++ b/src/components/SettingsDialog.tsx
@@ -45,9 +45,19 @@ export default function SettingsDialog({
     close();
   };
 
+  function is_valid_key(key: string) {
+    const pattern = /^sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{48}$/;
+    return pattern.test(key);
+  }
+
   const handleSave = () => {
-    setCustomApiKey(key);
-    close();
+    if (is_valid_key(key)) {
+      setCustomApiKey(key);
+      close();
+    }
+    else {
+      alert("key is invalid, please ensure that you have set up billing in your OpenAI account")
+    }
   };
 
   React.useEffect(() => {