Do I need to download & install a ChatGPT API key

Do I need to download & install a ChatGPT API key to get started ? Having trouble finding the basic steps to get up and running with making a text request. Also want to create audio messages to be transcribed into text. Can someone give me , or point me to, basic instructions on how to accomplish these please ?

Here you go.

Welcome to the forum…

You can start by using playground as well. It is a easy to use interface and allows for flexibilty when dealing with parameters as well